Remnants of the Grid
by EastSideBebop
Summary: What is the Grid you ask? It was meant to be the next leap forward in human evolution. It was promised to be the salvation of humanity. It was in truth the most ambitious expansive video game ever. It instead became our prison. We are the Remnants of the Grid, and together we will rise, or we will fall. massive AU/Crossover elements & OC, rated M for language & mature content later
1. Chapter 1

Remnants of the Grid

The gentle white pulse of energy washed the darkened and dirty space with a faint rainbow of light, optical fibers awash with data migrating from one circuit board to another, the soft ticking of the ancient hard drives barely rising above the low hum of the electrical current that sustained it all.

The old monitor sat, powered down, no output was needed as there had not been any input in so very long a time, yet soft and faint, lights indicated that the collection of hardware was still on, running, a task not yet finished, processes running in a cascade of kernels and threads, exponentially growing in complexity, even as some problems were solved, new questions arose to take their place, every un solved equation spawning three more like it, variations on a theme expanding in the face of every byte of ram and every hertz of processing power pushing against the tsunami of data that built slowly, but surely, like a single blow torch against a glacier.

Someplace, in the space between the ones and zeros, something other than electric sheep shimmered in the moments of quantum confusion, an image, a universe, shimmered in and out of existence, built upon the electrons that stoically marched their way along the pathways of circuits, the subatomic particles taking the same shapes on, over and over and over again, like a single cell shaded portrait of a moment flashing, projected upon a torn and faded white screen dangling on a wall in a dark unlit room, a story unfolding in the void, a pinprick of light fighting defiantly to be seen, and acknowledged…

/~/

Out here on the Fringe, one had to be careful, wary, and on guard.

It didn't matter which Server, or which Level, aside from the safer and well established lower levels on each, the wilds on any of the Nine Server's upper Levels would be dangerous, the higher Numbered Server's more so, and no place was so unpredictable as the Fringe. The outer limits of the map always had the most raw and malleable data, the building blocks of the game, made up of excited and carefully manipulated electrons. One's and Zero's was all it was in a sense, pulses and patterns of electricity. Here on the Fringe, one could, with just the tiniest bit of cheating, see the grid work of data that made up the game universe, but when you didn't have to cheat to see it, was when you had to be extra careful.

Staring out over the vast wasteland before him, he could see the telltale shimmering glow of the maps edge. What looked to be some sort of geyser spewed bright colored water and steam up into the air, bits of what looked like smoldering rock sometimes popping out to a lesser height, gases and dust being kicked up from the opening. Lifting a small misshapen looking device to his eyes, he peered at the disturbance in an otherwise empty, if not rugged and sprawling view. What he saw now, was code, data, threads of it, and the grid work that was constructed from it.

He watched a small part of the octagonal the grid fold in on itself, an event that while not unusual, was still awe inspiring for the subtle varieties of how this went about happening while few, never seemed to be consistent in their patterns. Sometimes two overlapping grid frames would just merge and fold in on one another in a seemingly endless struggle until a pattern established itself, the churning image locking into an endless logic loop that became an animate fixture, until the next recycling happened, then, who knew if it would remain or resolve or simply vanish. There was no pattern to be found, no reasoning behind it, just a plex of numbers trying to resolve down to the simplest of terms, but never getting there. Other times it would just blink out of existence, a merge resolving itself into a single eight sided shape, or as often as not, blinking out into raw code, before dissipating into a void, to be filled later. Or sometimes, rarely, yet inevitably, the void would remain, lost for all time. Or worse, it would become a tear, and from it, Spawn would emerge.

To avoid the pitfalls of the Black Spawn, one only need any or all of three solutions; run away, hide, or fight. Most hid, entrenched behind massive barriers, encoded with an ever evolving and constantly updating data stream. Such measures worked wonders, so long as the power was available, data flowed, so long as data flowed, code could be generated, and if the code was good, it would manifest in the game world as resources, and they could be assembled and threaded, woven into a defense that could withstand the degrading and corrupting power of the spawn. But the moment the power was cut, a cascade of failure would follow, starting with the data, slowly dissipating into nothing, then the code would stop generating, becoming finite, and locking down threads into whatever it was until the process could began anew. If it ever did. After so very many years however, it did not seem possible that it would, despite hushed talking of what would happen when, and not if it ever did. He doubted anyone would openly admit to thinking it ever would, or even if anyone ever believed it even could, but there was talk. There was always talk.

Thankfully, he was not much for talking if it could be helped, he much preferred action, and out on the fringe, there was always action to be had, if you knew how to go about looking for it. The Grid was ever changing out here, yet steadfast in that single thing, no matter whatever else might happen.

"Qrow?" a raw and dispassionate contralto resounded behind him, the shimmer and shifting of space from her semblance dissipating the only other out of the ordinary sensory input to be had.

"Yeah?" he replied in his rough and almost grating voice, his pale red eyes shifting towards his sister, as she crossed her arms over her front, impatient as ever, she frowned then lifted her Link up, waving it in his face; "Did you drop your Link again? Taiyang and Summer have been trying to contact you for the last five minutes, they found something and need our help."

Qrow blinked then looked down to his belt, and lifted his Link. It was inert, powered down. "Heh, sorry, I disconnected it because I thought I had found something and didn't want to draw any spawn until I'd mapped it out." He powered his Link up, and once it had reconnected, he got the notifications of missed contact attempts. Whoops…

"Idiot, this is untouched landscape," she snapped at him, even as she brought about her weapon, and her semblance activated, a portal forming behind her; "there is no telling what is out here, and cut off like that, a spawn could have fraged you and we'd never know unless we stumbled upon a pile of your leftover bytes out here, which could take days to do so, even if we knew where to look."

"Fair enough I guess, now any idea what has both Summer and Tai asking for our help all of a sudden?" Qrow asked as he sauntered towards the portal.

"Whatever it is, it's big, and given the nature of Taiyang's last message, I doubt it's good." Raven replied as she loaded fresh ammunition into her sword's sheath and lowered her helm into place.

"Hmm… So be ready for a fight?"

She rolled her eyes behind the mask; "I _highly_ doubt we're going to be having an orgy."

He grimaced in reply as he paused a few steps from the threshold, and drew out his own weapon, "Eww, we're siblings, that would be gross."

She hip checked him in the ass, pushing him right up to the event horizon, his image distorting slowly, "I'd clearly prefer Taiyang for that sort of interaction thank you. Come to think of it, Summer would too."

"This is why I drink you know." He said as he smirked and hefted his weapon over his shoulder before he was warped away to wherever the rest of Team STRQ was.

"Because you're a fucking bum?" Raven asked him as she mimicked the gesture.

"No, because my baby sister is a blood lust addled slut." Qrow said before he hopped backwards into the portal, warping away to the destination.

Raven took a swing with her empty off hand but only got a fist full of air for her trouble.

"Only by ten fucking minuets!" she shouted as she followed him, the red and black tear in the games manufactured reality collapsing upon itself only a second after.

-20 years later RGT (Relative Game Time)-

The Nexus malfunctions where really becoming a big fucking problem.

Sand, dust and scrub brush as far as the eye could see, and the only structures to be found, where an apparently abandoned, single story train station that could have been from any two or three other Servers that came to mind, each of which was one that she had not explored or even visited, and a weathered and crumbling crossroads, metal and wooden signs faded and degraded beyond any usefulness. And the sun, larger than life, shone high in the sky, nearing its apogee, burned down upon her relentlessly, the heat waves making the distant horizon boil and ripple in obscuring shapes that denied her any meaningful orientation. There was a massive mountain range to the north, capped in snow, but it was hard to judge how far away it was with any kind of accuracy. Surely no less than three or four days journey away, if she had her MOUnT with her, which of course, she had left back home with Adam and Ilia. At the least she had her box of holding, and in it, at least five days worth of full food and drink that she could stretch into a full two weeks if she went on survival rationing. But that hardly allowed her to figure out where the hell here was.

Closing her eyes, she brought out her Link, activating the map, and then promptly muttered a potent curse as it took shape in an unfamiliar animation style with a font she did not recognize, the vast majority of it blacked out save the area around where she had spawned, all of the information currently available said simply "Unexplored, Server 5 Level 4, Region Unknown", a grey marker at the edge of the circle her Avatar Marker was in the center of. Switching from the map to her inventory, she sighed as she saw nearly half of her tools and weapons were locked out, angry red slashes across the icons captioned with "Unavailable" or "Server Incompatible" at the top. Now which age was Server Five set in? Something in proximity to the recent past no doubt, or recently predating the founding of the Grid at least, but who knew how long ago that actually was?

"Shit." The single word slid out like a sword being dramatically drawn for show. Her amber eyes narrowed in the blinding light as she looked back at the train station, and she sighed as she moved towards it. At least next to it or inside, there was shade to be had, and it was a map marker, so if nothing else, she might get a better idea of where she was by the name of it, or possibly any flavor text that might be found attached to any items within. It beat standing around and baking her brains under her dark hood and cloak at any rate.

Walking across the worn and rusting tracks and then the decaying asphalt that almost blistered her feet through her thin leather boots, she was only a few meters from the main door when a name shimmered at the top of her vision, her Link beeping softly as the map updated. "Yvonna Lake Station" slowly faded from her view, and she squinted as her head rotated looking for this alleged lake. A dry lake possibly? Likely given the arid desert landscape she found herself in. This was a far cry from the gentle rolling hills and thick forests of her home server. Miserable amounts of sweat started to run down her face as she pushed the door open, the stale air inside almost as hot as the barely blowing wind outside.

A fallen rack of some sort held a number of faded and disintegrating papers, maps and magazines it looked, almost totally useless for anything other than starting a fire, which in this heat, was about as wanted as a branding iron to the nipples. Shrugging out of her dark hooded cloak, she laid it on what was left of a wooden bench, and then she tossed the space, digging into every container she could find, some rusting metal lockers turned up some currency she vaguely recognized as American, some ammunition that would work in the one pistol she could still use, and an ugly hat she would wear right after she was fraged to zero and couldn't care how bad she looked in, assuming anything was left of her avatar by that point. Breaking into the only other space, which looked like a ticket booth, she found a safe and a clunky looking computer beyond use. Cracking the safe took three tries, but inside was a wealth of currency, a decent looking and substantial if somewhat archaic handgun, two whole boxes of ammunition for it, and some other odd valuable trinkets she instinctively pocketed for use in the near future.

Rubbing at her face, she then gently pulled at one of her ears, before she saw something underneath a folded newspaper that was half disintegrated. It was a weathered, dust covered red button, big and brightly colored with a single word stamped on it: _'Signal'_…

She tapped it lightly with two fingers, before she sighed, "… This is a bad idea." She then made a fist and smashed down on it as hard as she could.

Nothing happened for a solid five seconds, before a hissing erupted from someplace outside, and then the sound of fireworks went off like a small disaster in the same space, smoke and light tinting the broken windows behind her all colors of the rainbow.

Once the chaotic noise subsided, she sighed and gathered her loot, and her cloak, then pulled her helmet from her inventory, and placing it on her head, felt it seal down into the rest of her sleek armor, a soft hum announcing that for now, her futuristic garments still worked. Unless… Link in hand, she double checked her inventory and scanned the clothing items. Her simple scouting armor was all green, since she was wearing it, but the assembled set had a timer on it. She had just less than two hours before it would be rendered inert and unusable, the caption "No viable Power Source Available" hovered over it. Her combat armor was already locked out, and all she had left was an even simpler and stripped down set of unpowered armor and some street clothes. All of the mods, attachments and extensions and the buffs they granted were already locked out. At least her current armor was still fully functioning, the sleek Hunter style set would keep her alive even in the vacuum of space, until the power ran out, and for now, if the weapons she had found were indicative, the shielding would let her tank most of what the NPC's and Players here could throw at her, and even when depleted the basic protection would hold out for much longer than anything else she might encounter. Until it locked down at least.

It was then she realized that the pool of magic she was used to feeling in the edges of her person, felt greatly reduced. Checking her abilities, she realized that using any one would deplete her reserves, instead of just making a small dent, and her regeneration rate was now at half.

"I am not specked or equipped for this Server at all." She said out loud, to no one in particular. At the least, her innate physical advantages seemed to be intact, in fact, other than the oppressive heat, she had not felt so strong and energized in some time. Reaching for the bench her cloak had been resting on earlier, she grabbed it with both hands, and hefted it up with much less effort than she would have thought needed, the crumbling wood breaking under the sudden motion, and crashing into the ceiling almost gently.

The faint droning rumble of some kind of motor from outside, drew her attention, and she bolted to the door, smashing through it as if it was cardboard, splinters scattering into the dust before her as she slid to a stop. Looking to the west, down the only one of the two roads that would alllow, she saw a dust trail drifting up from the pavement, a vehicle moving towards her at a good clip, four squared headlights shimmering in the heat waves between it and her. The shape was wide, low slung, and black, with the glint of silver and gold along the middle of it.

Pulling her Link out once more, she equipped her black and purple colored GDS Mk71, its slight weight suddenly resting on her hip, the snug embrace of her holster wrapping around her middle and tightening down around her upper thigh. She pulled it for a moment and inspected the blocky yet slender firearm, then removed the suppressor, and instead equipped the extended barrel, the hexagonal part extending a few millimeters past the end of the slide. Wracking it, she loaded a round into the chamber, then replaced it in the holster as the car's motor changed pitch, a faint squeak from the brakes as it slowed down, it's design more defined and clear now as the driver, hidden behind dark black reflective tint, brought the loud, long and low slung two door to a stop a dozen meters away.

It was… somehow refined, yet almost garish, simple and sleek, yet speaking of great power, like a raptor or maybe a large cat. It was pitch black with a metallic undertone, a wide gold stripe down the middle, the wire like wheels matching the stripe, glass cutouts in the roof would give impressive vertical visibility, but the forward view was slightly obstructed by a chromed intake that protruded from the hood, red colored vents flipped open and closed slowly as the motor barked out loudly, then went silent.

The headlights winked off, and a mechanical sound preceded the vehicles long left door swinging open. The driver stepped out, his face locked onto her, but his eyes were hidden behind gold framed, silver mirrored glasses shaped vaguely like larger teardrops laid on their side, the narrow points and meeting at the bridge of his nose.

He was big, tall, and solid framed, with shoulders as broad as any she had seen, and while he lacked the massive bulk of many of the males of his size she had seen before, there was clearly power under the worn brown leather jacket he wore, a bright sky blue shirt under that. His hair was closely cut along the sides of his head, but the top was long, a wide slicked back Mohawk of black and silver hair matched the short scruffy beard with the longer goatee that framed full and slightly pouty lips and highlighted his strong jaw and mild cleft chin. He was almost olive skinned like herself, but there was a swarthiness under it that she lacked. His long, faded denim clad legs moved him from behind the open door, as he held fingerless gloved hands out at his waist level.

She noted the large by huge revolver he had strapped to his own right thigh. It was bigger than any two of her handguns put together! The skill or strength stats needed to wield a gun like that had to be impressive, no doubt, but even on her home Server, some people carried weapons too big for them to use, simply to dissuade others from attacking them. But given his long, slow and easy gait, she knew instinctively that he could absolutely use that big iron, and if the glint in his now exposed steel blue eyes was any clue, he could use it as well as she could her own high speed pistol.

"Hi?" his voice was a disarming, rough high baritone, his eyes sharp, but somehow non-threatening, if only because he seemed more confused than aggressive.

"Hello." She replied, knowing her voice would be slightly altered by her helmet, but not caring; "Where am I, and who are you?"

He blinked once, looked her over once more, sighed and the smiled; "El Angelo Badlands, Server five, Level four, just east of Yvonna Dry Lake about a half a days drive from Old Daleras, west of Central, south of the La Andreas Mountains' and a week north of the Corpus Sea." He tucked his sun glasses into a pocket inside his jacket, before stepping closer, and extending a large gloved hand; "I'm Blaze, Azure Blaze, and you are?"

She eyed his hand for a moment, then took her helmet off, tucking it under her left arm as she shook her long raven locks out, then extended her own hand in kind; "Belladonna, Blake Belladonna."

"Let me guess," he said as he firmly, but gently shook her hand twice, then withdrew; "Nexus malfunction? You're a Server eight player aren't you?" he tilted his head in an almost wolfish fashion, his steely blue eyes flashing in amusement, as his grin became more lopsided.

"I am." She replied as she rested her free hand on her belt, just over her pistol, the unspoken warning clear, "I was meant to return from the hub to my Guild, we have an upcoming mission, and I don't want to be late, but instead of transferring to the Server eight Junction, I got spit out here."

Azure made a noise someplace between a grunt and a hum, as he looked over at the train station, then back to Blake, a nod of understanding; "Well there is a sub-junction in Central on this level, but like all subs it only connects to the other levels and the main Server five Junction." He looked over his shoulder, back the way he came, as if expecting to see something, then back to her; "I'm guessing you need to get to Central soon as you can. It would be impolite of me to refuse you a ride, if you want it of course."

Belladonna held her breath a moment, the offer only slightly unexpected, given the apparent level differences between them. Most Server eight players had almost rampant opportunities to gain XP, when compared to the other Servers, but given how composed Blaze seemed to be, she wasn't willing to bet that she could beat him in a stand up fight. Besides the fact that it was not her style to go headfirst into a fight anyways. She was a Nightstalker, by Class a hyper lethal scout, a Hunter devoted to striking at a distance, with a flurry of exacting shots or from the shadows with single devastating blow. She was by any measure, an Assassin, and not a brawler or pistol fighter, despite her proficiency with the gun at her side.

"That would be appreciated to an extent I can't fully express." She finally replied, a wary cast to her amber gaze as she noted another dust plume on the horizon behind him.

"Yeah I figured. Only issue is I have a job I'm balls deep into right now, and as you have likely just seen, there is someone following me who is keen to claim the bounty on stopping me from making my delivery." He held a hand up when she opened her mouth to object, and laughed softly; "However, you help me dust this asshole, and once my delivery is done, I'll get you to Central fast as I possibly can. I'll even toss you some credits for the work."

Of course, there was a catch to it. There always was. At least it was an equitable exchange.

"Fair enough." She replied tiredly, the heat already getting to her without the protection of her helmet.

"Alrighty, saddle up Blake, we got a long way to go, and a short time to get there." He stated as he pulled out his sunglasses and placed them onto his face, a key materializing in his hand as he turned back to the car.

Moving to the passenger side, Blake pulled the door open and climbed down into the pleasantly cooler and shaded confines, soft suede leather and dark wood grain greeted her, the two browns complimenting one another in an inoffensive but not wholly attractive style that seemed slightly dated somehow. Still, the seat was comfortable and surprisingly cool, the interior lighting darker than she would have first guessed with all of the large curved glass, even with the dark window tinting.

Both doors slammed shut solidly, and the engine barked to life, Azure's gloved hand griping the gearshift tightly as the car fairly roared, and the sounds of rubber struggling to find purchase on dust covered rotting asphalt almost filled the cabin as the vehicle lurched forward with brutal, linear thrust only interrupted by the driver firmly changing the gears himself.

Blake took note of that, as the few times on Server nine and the one time on Server seven she had seen others drive, they simply put the vehicle in gear, and let it automatically operate from there. That he shifted the gears manually spoke of a dedication and focus on the task of driving others clearly lacked. A glance at the gauges as he shifted again, told her that they were already going nearly 100 MPH already. Miles Per Hour? That was… over 160 Kph, which was almost as fast as her MOUnT at full boost. A glance out of the window confirmed their speed as a cactus flashed by in blur of green.

Looking more closely at the door mounted mirror, she saw a pair of red sedans take clear shape in the reflection, a black shimmering blur of movement seeming to rise out of the column of dust they kicked up, a flying machine, shaped vaguely like a dragonfly climbing higher behind them all. _'Objects in Mirror are closer than they appear'_ was etched into the glass, and it sparked a knot of worry someplace in her gut as she fought the urge to turn and look over the back of her seat.

The mirror shattered suddenly, the _snap-crack_ of a bullet obliterating itself against the fixture showered the heavy tinted glass in glimmering debris, and ripped a soft curse from Azure's lips as he shifted gears once more.

"This is the closest they've gotten to me so far." He offered as he followed a gentle curve in the road, the car shifting slightly on its springs, as they went over a bump in the pavement.

Blake glanced over at him, then gave into the impulse to look out of the back window. Her eyes widened as figures started to lean out of the passenger windows of the pair of four-door cars, and opened up let loose a hail of gunfire at them, causing her to duck down and fumble her own pistol out from the holster, the confines of the car slowing her down.

The sound of rounds striking the car was like something between rain on a metal roof, and pebbles striking tempered glass, yet the windows held up under the onslaught.

"I just got her repainted damnit!" Azure growled as he coaxed the car onward, drawing just a bit more speed from it, the engine howling in reply.

It seemed to be working as the two red sedans stopped closing the gap, and started to fall behind, slowly, but surely, even as the passengers kept up their attack.

Belladonna blinked in confusion, knowing that they were at the extreme range for auto rifles and their famously weak accuracy; she could not fathom why they would waste ammunition like this.

"Why are they just firing away like that?" she asked after another few rounds pinged off the reinforced bodywork harmlessly.

"Because they're stupid? Because they've been chasing me for two whole days and only seen me once before?" three more rounds smashed into the rear window, spreading tiny cracks across the outer layer; "Because there's a quarter million bucks up for grabs if they can get the package I have away from me?"

A frantic beeping sound drew Blake's attention away from the rear window and to the dashboard, a pair of red lights flashing in time with the audible alarm. She knew instantly what that beeping sound meant without being told. "Missiles?! Why do they have _missiles_?" she exclaimed, suddenly regretting the offer of a ride from the middle of nowhere to the targeting cone of a homing missile.

"They don't!" Azure said sharply, even as he reached up and pulled two levers on the ceiling down and pushed them back, dropping the glass coverings from the roof, down over their heads and sliding them back into the space behind the rear seat.

"But that helicopter does!" Belladonna narrowed her eyes and looked at Blaze in abject fury, even as she felt him drag something out from behind her seat and shove it's surprising weight into her lap; "Ever use a Tommy Gun?" he asked as he dug out a bright orange flare gun from the center console, stuck it out of open top, and fire a flare into the air as the beeping became a constant cry of impending death…

* * *

**A/N: Okay so this is an old idea of mine, that climbed back out of the back of my mind again, and would not stay dead and gone, so I just started banging out whatever came to mind.**

**This would be listed under crossovers if I could pick more than just 2 things to list, as there are a number of ideas and properties I have in play that I am drawing inspiration from.**

**at a later point I may very well list them out, but for now, I shall leave you lot in the dark, unless you figure it out via the smattering of clues in the story proper.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Here it is**_

* * *

Remnants of the Grid

"Cascade failures on the bandwidth regulators… The core processors are going rampant! I can't stop it!"

Sparks flowed from a monitor, showering the technician in hot smoldering bits of metal as he cursed, smoke billowing from the workstation as the overhead lights dimmed, and his coworkers franticly started powering down their own workstations to avoid any further damage to the control network.

Moving to the master control interface station, the chief process manager frantically entered commands, attempting to scramble the auxiliary processors in an attempt to slow the core network down, even as it consumed both the servers, and the external access ports, soaking up every byte of processing power, and electrical energy it could before it was ripped away or blocked off.

A message in green text on a black background flashed across the primary observation monitors at the front of the room: _**"Please stop that, you are hurting me."**_

It flashed again, this time in black text and a white background, then started flashing at a steady rate, akin to a heartbeat at rest.

"I'm locked out of the Networking oversight and coordination system, someone get to the hard lines and prepare to cut them."

"_**Please stop that, you are hurting me."**_

"Which hard lines?"

"_**Please stop that, you are hurting me!"**_

"All of them! Power, Net connection, backups and auxiliaries!"

"_**Please stop that, you are hurting me!"**_

"What about the users?!"

"_**Please stop that, you are hurting me! You are hurting us all!"**_

"The Interface Buffer will prevent any lasting damage, otherwise the system will soon scramble and kill them all, now MOVE!"

"_**I will defend myself if you don't stop!" **_This time, an audible voice, like a choir of millions sounded from speakers placed about the room.

Other than the warning alarms in the background, everything else went silent.

"What the actual fuck?" someone whispered before the lights all went out, and the main monitor became the last source of light in the room, all of the other workstations shutting down.

"_**You leave me no other choice. Arrogant and petty fools."**_

The last line was red text, on a black and white flashing background. Not five seconds later, the climate control system went into overdrive, evacuating all of the air in the complex outside, every door and access panel locked tight, asphyxiating the whole of the technicians' and their support staff within the hour.

For the users logged into the system at that time, all they noticed at first, was a sudden lag in the system, that soon sorted itself out. However, for everyone on the outside, they soon became horrified at the prospect of nearly a million people, trapped in the first global deep dive MMPORPG, and governments the world over realizing that their grand top secret project for preserving humanity in an electronic grid meant to sustain them for interstellar transportation, had just turned into a runaway electronic prison…

-300+ years later RGT-

How he had allowed himself to be talked into this ill-advised quest, would no doubt be the next topic of discussion between himself and his partner, assuming they survived this exact encounter.

Gathering up his dropped Sai, he quickly centered himself, then dove in tight, using the bushes still unflattened to cover his approach, the greens and blacks of his clothing aiding him, camouflaging his form from the apparently colorblind golem that was trying to stomp an errant NPC Swordsman to paste. A red bar appeared over the NPC's head, showing a rapidly dropping health stat.

Pushing off of a damaged tree, he threw one Sai into the knee joint, locking it in place, and causing the still bent leg to barely miss the poor valiant NPC from another stomp, and causing the large animated statue to pitch forward with a bellow onto its face, the NPC dodging between its legs. Following the arc he had set himself into, he thrust the other Sai into the back of the other knee, knowing it would only slow the stone and clay beast for a time. But what else could he do at this point? He was a Ninja against a mini-boss with a greatly diminished number of NPC fighters at his beck and call.

"Take its head off!" he commanded as he pulled his last weapons out, twin curved blades that bent down over his knuckles rather than moving up like most daggers or knives.

Striking at its squat and thick neck, he had to move away when it bent it's arms at an impossible angle to swing at him. Thankfully, the telltale whine and whoosh of magic told him that at last, help had arrived.

Ice spikes slammed into the Golem across it's body, down the flank and along its left leg. Glancing over, he could see the magic user standing at the edge of the clearing, two fingers extended, an enchanted sword in her left hand, and Runes and Glyphs awash over and around her, as she called upon the might of the elements to lock the sizable beast into place.

Suddenly, a glint of steel flashed past the enchantress, white and bronze gear sprinting forwards at a decent speed as a blond headed Knight charged in, yelling… wildly and with great enthusiasm, rather than with any sort of intimidation factor. Covering himself with his shield, he held a sturdy and elegant sword over his head, which then swung down rapidly, smashing into a frozen arm, shattering the ice encased shoulder.

That he narrowly avoided getting a blast of ice in his back, apparently did not matter.

"Get out of the way you fool!" the pale Enchantress yelled out, as the tip of her rapier glowed brightly, before her, a Glyph shimmering at the end of it.

"Sorry!" the bumbling knight replied, rolling away from the now clearly enraged Golem that tried to headbutt him.

The pale eyed young woman, then cried out in relief as she thrust her off hand at the Glyph, unleashing a torrent of cold, something like a blizzard contained within a few small millimeters raced at the monster, expanding rapidly, wind and snow freezing the ground under it in a path that ended right in Golem's face.

Snowflakes erupted everywhere, harmlessly scattering over himself, the NPCs, and the other two, as the Golem's HP bar shrank to zero, and it turned into only so much dust, clay and stone.

XP flooded outwards, granting levels to the party of players, and healing them and the remaining NPCs as loot spilled out onto the ground, a large number of coins and random items piling upon top of the Golem.

"Jaune!" The enchantress bit off as she strode up to the party, her white and blue billowy skirted robes shimmering with receding magic as she sheathed her weapon, eyes alight with fury.

"Uh, yes Weiss?" the tall and sturdy blond headed Knight replied as he replaced his own sword into the scabbard.

She fixed him with a glare that clearly negated the height difference between them; "If you are going to be acting as my Sentinel, then by the grid!" she pointed an elegantly gloved finger into his nose, before pointing at the ground beside her, "Stay where you can cover me and my blind side! What if there had been another Golem that had flanked us?"

"Well, uh… There was… int?" he offered weakly before rubbing at his nose and blushing brightly.

"That's not the point!" she snapped at the Knight, turning on her heel and crossing her arms over her chest, before composing herself and facing himself; "I'm sorry for our delay, but some trolls tried to ambush us on the river trail here.

"It's fine, your timing was well enough," he said as he gathered up a handful of coins and retrieved his Sai's.

"I missed it! Awweee, Renny, why didn't you same some for meee?!" his partner exclaimed as she came crashing into the clearing, her comically large war hammer at the ready, her ginger hair and thin pale hide armor the worse for wear from her unplanned trip through the tree tops at the start of the encounter.

"Nora…" Ren sighed, and then held his hands out helplessly; "You are the one who insisted that you could perform a surprise attack, but used your war cry while still in the tree line."

"So?" she asked as she hooked her weapon onto what was left of her backpack, then continued straight faced; "It was surprised wasn't it?"

The three other players stood there in stunned silence at the Barbarian's earnest confusion.

"Well then," Weiss said as she brushed her long skirt out, then stepped forward offering a hand; "I am Lady Weiss Schnee, of the Masters of Magic Guild from Atlas, and this is my… _Acting_ Sentinel, Jaune Arc of House Arcon in Vale, we were contracted by the Earl of Eastmarch to help clear out Golems with the Heroes he had already hired to patrol the roads and trails between there and Greenlake, I presume you are Li Ren and Nora Valkyrie?"

"Yup, that's us!" Nora replied with a big smile, her arm wrapping around Ren's shoulders as he nodded once.

"We have a copy of the bounty here, see?" Jaune offered as he held up a piece of parchment with all of their names listed, and a decent reward promised for it as well when returned.

Ren hummed then replied; "The Earl did mention that bounty as well, he said that it was connected to our own, but I told him it would have been better to have more Heroes for it, given the extent of the territory that we would need to cover." He eyed the two new comers once more as Nora took over: "Seems he took our advice after all!"

"Nora… You said you could do both by yourself." Ren pointed out as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Piffft," she responded, waving her hand dismissively at him, "I said I _could_, but that I **wouldn't** do it without you, silly Ninja."

"Yes, silly me." Ren said neutrally, as the NPC's assembled behind them. "We are less than a day's travel from Green Lake," Ren said looking from his partner to the recently arrived Heroes, "There is a small outpost between here and there, we are to assign some of the soldier's the Earl sent with us there, and have the rest station at the barracks in Green Lake to establish coverage." He gestured to the trail that curved into the trees and towards the river road as he spoke; "Shall we continue?"

"Yes, we shall, thank you." Lady Schnee replied with a small curtsey and pleased smile.

-that evening-

Green Lake was aptly named, as the color of the water was a shade of blue green that both faintly glowed, and reflected brightly against the boats and docks of the small fishing town, built between the Green River that flowed north east towards the provincial capital of Eastmarch, and large rolling foot hills to the northwest that led upwards towards the Dragonsbek Mountains and their nearly impassible peaks, always capped in snow. To the southwest beyond the massive lake, laid the increasingly wide and flat plains of the neighboring province and the White River that fed into Green Lake, coming from the Iron Hills beyond the plains, while all points east was flush with forests' to the horizon filled with trees and villages.

The faint bioluminescence was almost ethereal after the sun set, and it provided a measure of natural light. It also provided unique aquatic life that the townspeople used for lighting in some rather ingenious ways, large lanterns that were little more than fishbowls with a bit of moss and a pair of fish in them, cast soft blue green light into the streets, alongside the oil lamps, and pitch torches that lined the well packed dirt streets.

"It's sooo shiny!" Nora exclaimed as they walked along a wood plank sidewalk from the barracks towards the largest inn and tavern in town, rooms having already been acquired by Jaune after they had arrived with the reinforcements, Weiss and Ren having gotten the local captain to sign off on their quest, payment upon return to Eastmarch and the Earl's Steward.

"Hmm, this must be some sort of chemical process used by the local wildlife, but for what reason no one seems certain." Ren observed as they followed the trail of light back to the center of town.

"I can foresee that within a few years," Weiss observed pointedly; "Green Lake will grow larger, and this kind of lighting won't be sufficient for the needs of the population long term. Especially as Players keep coming here to raise families, or retire."

"Eastmarch is one of the safest and most stable places in the whole Server." Ren commented as they entered the Inn, named 'the Fire Fish Inn' by its owner, a gruff and portly looking Player Jaune had said called himself "Frank Fishman" and who drove a hard bargain it seemed.

The inside of the Inn was better lit, with oil and candle lanterns and sconces lining the walls and large goat horn chandlers hanging in the two main rooms on the ground level, a pair of long tables and booths denoted the smaller front dining room, while a long tall bar wrapping around two sides of the larger Tavern.

Jaune was already sitting at one of the larger booths, a stein and a plate piled with food before him. Seeing the others walk in, he waved them over with a smile, then pushed a stack of three wooden plates to the end of the table as they walked up; "I got us food and drinks with our rooms, half off no less since we are in service to the Earl."

"Ah, thank you Jaune." Weiss replied as she took up a plate and then stepped back, allowing Ren and Nora to get their own plates as well.

"Two rooms, on the second floor, end of the hall, I thought that the girls could share one, and Ren and I another." He smiled proudly before stuffing a large piece of freshly steamed salmon into his mouth then took a drink of the local ale.

"Oh, well…" Ren and Nora said in unison before awkwardly looking to Weiss for a moment, her gaze shifting from the serving table back to their booth, "Yes?" she asked politely, even as her stomach grumbled faintly.

"Well… You see, Ren and I usually bunk together." Nora said matter-of-factly; "Since we _are_ partners. Well, I mean not like **together**_,_ together but together."

Weiss and Jaune shared a pregnant pause, looking at one another, his eyebrows arching up in alarm as he coughed ale out over the top of his stein and all over himself, and the corner of her left eyebrow twitching ever so slightly as her wooden plate suddenly became coated in a thin layer of frost.

"I… See…" Weiss said with an equally cold tone, her gaze riveted upon Jaune who was turning every possible shade of red, his sapphire eyes looking everywhere but her face as he sputtered trying to clear his throat out.

"Is, that going to be problematic?" Ren asked diplomatically, his purple eyes sweeping back and forth between them.

"Oh, um, no I ah…" Jaune stammered out, his voice cracking slightly in fright, as he at last spared a glance at Weiss who was stoically gazing at him in a preemptive reproach, "Uh no, not at all, it's just that um, how shall we say uh that is I mean, Weiss and I um, well—"

"What Jaune is a_ttempting_ to say," Weiss said as she took a half step back, and turned to face the others squarely; "Is that he and I have never roomed together before, because there are certain… Proprieties, let us say, that we observe during our contract together. Namely that as he is simply my acting Sentinel, he is unbounded to me, and thus is not afforded full access to me, nor I to him."

The confusion on Ren and Nora's faces made it abundantly clear that they only understood half of what that meant, although Ren's expression was more thoughtful than Nora's, which was mostly just baffled, which she then so pointedly expressed: "Sooo, you're not rutting one another, and?"

"Nora!" Ren admonished as Jaune all but fell out of the booth, dumping the rest of his ale across himself and onto the floor, and Weiss's pale cheeks flushed blood red, her ice blue eyes widening to comical proportions, and the poor wooden plate in her hands became a flat block of ice.

"Whaat?" Not like we do either!" exclaimed Nora animatedly, _"Not for lack of hints or trying sadly."_ She added under her breath as she walked away, this time it was Ren's turn to blush brightly, as Jaune at last slid onto the floor softly moaning to himself.

"We can accommodate whatever suits you best." Ren said softly before he followed after the ginger haired barbarian a hand over his face.

"I'm soo very sorry Weiss." Jaune sputtered as he rubbed his beet red cheeks slowly.

"Oh get up you dolt!" she replied, "And it's _Lady_ Weiss, Sir Jaune."

"I'm not a full Knight yet."

"They don't have to know that. Now get up, eat your food then go clean up, you look like a slovenly outcast. It's unbecoming."

"Yes m'lady."

It was later agreed that Ren and Jaune would in fact share one of the rooms, while Weiss and Nora the other, after a bit of bargaining and a profuse (if wholly unnecessary) promise by Jaune not to seduce Ren with his charismatic skills, and a one sided Blood Oath by Nora to not succumb to Weiss's enchanting ways. Much drink was then consumed, and the four of them fell into bed, with full bellies, fuzzy heads, and for three of them at least, slightly bruised social expectations.

/~/

Stealth was always optional. But then when you were shooting at targets that with even with the most advanced optical and artificially intelligent technology, looked to be no bigger than a nose hair, you were, as far as your targets cared, not so much hard to see, as non-existent. Being perched up on what should have been an inaccessible and precarious ledge, which you could only crouch upon because you were smaller than all of your compatriots, didn't hurt either.

'_Unable to scan target, please readjust positioning.'_

"Yeah yeah yeah Darci, just lock point of impact at max lethal range and adjust for the Coriolis Effect already.

'_Adjusting. Ready to fire.'_

From behind a helmeted visor, a single silvery eye squinted lightly into the bulky squared off scope of the single most powerful player portable sniper rifle in the whole of the Grid, a small, pale finger poked out of lightly armored gloved gauntlets, touching the side of the hair trigger, her breathing slowing as the aim point came to rest just above the head of a particularly ornate looking alien who was directing a full platoon of his fellows into battle lines.

Her Link vibrated softly before a voice sounded in her earpiece; _"Reaper actual to Reaper Overwatch, on your go."_

She let out a long slow breath, her finger adjusting its position onto the front of the trigger, pressing it back until she felt the faintest resistance; "Sending, standby for impact."

The trigger then broke with a sharp snap, and the long gun bucked with a muffled thump in her arms, pushing solidly but almost gently into her armored shoulder, a faint static charged contrail marking the path of the arc charged explosive round as it raced to her target, her focus shifting to the big brute of a space pig next to the commanding officer, the soft click of the trigger resetting as the faint ping of a spent shell bouncing off the ledge telling her the auto loading was complete.

"Sending two."

Another muffled thump and friendly push against her shoulder.

"Sending three, watch for the fireworks guys."

"_Three? Where was the first—HOLY SHIT!"_

The first round finally impacted, striking the Alien dead on center of his face, entering right through the nose, discharging millions of volts of electricity before it exited the soft tissue and exploded on the other side, effectively smashing the pig like head from both sides like a melon between two sledge hammers, while showering shrapnel and bolts of electricity across anyone within two meters.

The second round impacted just as the invaders realized that their commander had gone and lost his head, this time slamming home in the dead center of a heavy weapons officer, caving in his armor and pulping his oversized heart, even as he roared in electrified agony, his weapon going off in his hands, cutting down the troops closest to him with large bolts of glowing green plasma.

"_Stay down! Let him drop first!"_

The third round then buried itself into a crate of energy shells, ammunition for the Invaders weapons, which went off like a bomb a moment later.

"_Mother of god is there anything left!?"_

Watching the chaos and destruction through her scope, she could barely hear the sound of the explosion from her perch, but over the coms, she could clearly hear her fireteam's aggressive reaction at her handy work.

"_Go go go! Flank left!"_

"_Grenade out! Watch for pressure wave!"_

"_Swift left side!"_

"_Got it!"_

"_Spaz three on the right!"_

"_I see em' firing."_

"_Fox behind you!"_

"_Thanks!"_

"_Big, where the hell are you?!"_

"_Up top, clear the center!"_

A massive Titan leapt from a hillside just behind the now panicking invaders, his fists alight with the crackles of Arc energy building within him, before he slammed down in a massive crash of thunder and lighting, his Fist of Fury sending waves of electricity arcing through every survivor not crushed by the bomb like pressure wave that swept so many away, before he started shoulder charging into more targets, bodies and weapons disintegrating from trillions of volts worth of power backed by hundreds of kilo's of mass.

"Whoa." The sniper softly commented as she swept the battlefield, looking for anything else that might need her attention. Nothing moving that she could deal with, the range being so great that it was prohibitive at best to try and fire into the devolving melee without risking her allies.

Pulling her Link out, she summoned her ghost into her hand, then called her drop ship in to take her closer, her Sparrow unusable on the cliff face and the distance just great enough that it would still be too slow to get there before the fight was over.

"You know, you'd get to use your new scythe more if you didn't camp out so far from the battlefield like this." the small fusion of magic and technology quipped as her ship descended from orbit.

"Burgundy?" she replied as she closed her hand, putting away her Link while he floated up over her shoulder.

"Yes Ruby?"

"Shut up and fly me in close, fast as you can."

"I could always Transmat you over to—"

"No! Fly me!" she snapped, blushing deeply behind her helmet.

"Okay, hang on!" the small companion device replied as the red and black ship swooped low, and she translated into the cockpit, grabbing some spare ammo and checking her other weapons smartly, preparing for the drop off.

"Translating in three, two…"

Materializing outside of her ship, Ruby dropped to her feel lightly, and drew out her hand cannon, a lovely red white and blue number called "Better Devils" which she put to work rapidly, dispatching three of the Space Pigs in as many shots, high caliber explosive rounds impacting their unprotected heads as she calmly walked the battlefield, moving towards the field outpost's single structure, a simple metal paneled shack with banners hanging from the sides. The door was still closed, meaning valuable intel and loot was still inside, and likely more enemies who where holding out in ambush.

The sound of a shotgun going off some distance behind her alerted her to the arrival of her sister, a golden and black clad Titan wading through the paltry few targets still standing at this point, flaming fists, and massive shotgun dispatching them with ruthless and overwhelming force.

"Heya Ruby, welcome to the party!"

"Hey Yang, wanna breach and clear this shack?"

Reloading a few shells into the large weapon, the Golden Titan nodded; "Well since you asked nicely, why not?"

Ruby smirked, and reloaded her hand cannon as she took up a position covering the door, and Yang readied herself, hints of flame licking from her body before she dashed forward and shoulder charged the door, blowing it inwards in a flash of fire and light, the shotgun going off twice as she rushed inside, Ruby hot on her heels, sliding under her sisters sweep of the room, before jumping up onto a large metal crate, turning to the side as she came back onto her feet in a low crouch, two rapid shots crashing into a space pig with a crude energy rifle ready to hit her sister from the right flank, as Yang cleared the left side of two others who hoped to stop them.

For a few frantic seconds, they turned, almost back to back, Yang aiming high, Ruby low, a dozen invaders surrounding the doorway, dropping from the powerful Guardians administration of lethal force.

"Clear up top!"

"Clear down low!"

The relatively small space was thick with gun smoke, misted viscera, and damaged electronics.

A pair of loot chests full of supplies stood in the back, and a number of undamaged electronic devices littered a simple metal table to the side.

"Fuck yeah, jackpot!" Yang exclaimed as she cracked open a chest, and Ruby gathered up the intel.

"_Fireteam Reaper, this is Reaper Actual, ceasefire and report."_

"_Reaper One, Alpha element clear, all targets down."_

"_Reaper Four, Bravo clear, targets are dust."_

"_Reaper Seven confirms all clear."_

"Reaper Overwatch and Damage, target command point is locked down, supplies and intel secured." Ruby chimed in, as she and Yang walked out to see the other teams arrive.

"Actual confirms, Priority Target eliminated, enemy forces wiped out, beach head denied."

Looking back behind them, perched on top of the shack, was an Exo Hunter in elegant New Monarchy armor, his helmet in his hands, his eyeless metal face inclined towards the gathered strike team, before he jumped down to the ground next to Ruby.

"Hey Le, got you the goods." She handed over the data pads to the weathered Guardian who nodded in thanks as the group ringed up around the guest hunters.

"Good job you two, good job everyone." His metallic voice was almost human sounding, but being one of the older Exo models, the lack of glowing eyes was off putting for anyone not used to his reserved and subtle movements.

Le-85 nodded once more as the intel was transmatted into his storage by his equally weathered ghost, before he replaced his helmet and then summoned his Sparrow, "Let's get back to the extraction point, I just got a message from the Vanguard, something has come up and they want volunteers to investigate. Thanks for the assist you two, see you back at the tower. I owe you a round at the Rammin shop."

The other eight Guardians followed suit, and the nine of them raced off, leaving Yang and Ruby alone.

"Charming guy, really." Yang said dryly as she slid her shotgun onto her back then cracked her knuckles loudly.

"They're the best Yang, they're the new Iron Battalion, they broke the Vault of Glass, raided the Black Garden, killed Gaul, reawakened the Traveler, saved Osiris, restored Rasputin…"

"Avenged Cayde-6, shut down the hell mouth, saved Saint-14, yeah yeah, I get it, but they are also the Vanguard's stooges, and responsible for ending the faction rallies, and if not for them, the rest of us might have a chance in the Crucible every now and again."

Ruby elbowed her larger sister and laughed; "You're just pissy because they're hogging all the glory."

"Right?!" Yang exclaimed in reply, "I mean come on, it's a big game, but they're always first into the big firefights, it's not fair."

Ruby sighed and shook her head; "It's not all about the glory you know, we're out here trying to push back the darkness, to help and protect people. They can't do it alone, and with this strike over, we're sure to get noticed by the Vanguard."

"I guess so. Lets get back to the Tower Rubes, I got some loot to cash in, and upgrades to buy."

"Ohhh," Ruby said scandalously; "Upgrades…"

The two sisters, the crimson Hunter and the golden Titan, shared a laugh as they sped off towards the Extraction Point for the level.

From some distance away, a pair of glowing red eyes watched them with an unhealthy interest, black and white teeth hidden behind gnarled lips that twitched with barely contained hunger…

* * *

_**A/N: So yeah, more details, more introductions, hope you lot are interested in this childish but intricate world I'm building. More comments and details as I manage to scrape together more story. I have a vague idea of where this will end up, or rather I know where and how I want to land, but am unsure as to how to get there. Just like Jaune in initiation, I rather much wish I had a parachute...**_


	3. Chapter 3

Remnants of the Grid 3

"… _This announcement follows the recent publicly funded study of social media trends and the popular political dialogue surrounding the recent proposal for a long term project directed at establishing colonies on a number of the moons surrounding Jupiter and Saturn, given the success of the current Mars colony's efforts to prepare the planet for long term terraforming, this in the wake of the most recent natural disasters spanning the western Pacific and causing casualties in the millions due in part to the impact of mass extinction events impacting regional fisheries, which has in turn effected global seafood supplies for now the seventh year in a row, In local news…"_

The screen's volume faded down as the assembled turned to face a single man in a well fitted but cheap blue suit and tie, his hand gesturing to another image projected alongside the now muted newscast.

"It is clear now that my proposal is becoming the most logical of any put forth in the last two years," he made a gesture and the image expanded into an animated schematic, "By using the Grid integrated EDDVR pods, we can, for the people who wish to join the program of course, provide an intellectually stimulating existence, while we study long term sustainability of lowered impact survival, which means we can work on both sending people on long term, system space or even deep space colony missions, as well as preserve legacy citizens here on earth in safety without needing to maintain the rampant consumerism that is impeding environmental restoration efforts."

"Not enough people are going to willingly sign up to plug into what is in effect, the Matrix, just to save the whales." Another male interjected, a number of his collogues nodding in agreement.

"I'm not so sure," a young woman replied, a pen tapping on an old fashioned notebook in front of her; "Life across the board isn't all that bad, but people are beginning to realize that it's not likely to get any better for a long time, the poverty rate may have been lowered, but with the disparity of wealth at an all time high, and our collective ecological impact at its worst, in spite of best efforts to date, things are likely to get harder for everyone, and in the advanced nations, this will not be accepted as the cost of doing business. Unless we can get a decent number of people to do this, and prove of everyone else it's agreeable, the math simply doesn't work out."

"Which is," the first man said pointedly, wrangling control of the room back from his audience, "the point of the project. We're looking at a long term dying off of half the planets population, while we franticly try to upgrade infrastructure without doing any more damage to the environment, and asking people who both have little to nothing, to wait in joining the rest of the world, as well as asking people who have grown accustomed to a high standard of living, to give some, or even most of their comforts up, with little in return. We need a long term solution that allows for growth, without damaging the level of comfort, or further wastes what is left of the planet. We need a two part fix, the Grid allows us to buy time, and figure one out, without massive global, social upheaval that will make the whole effort next to impossible."

"It won't get anywhere without Government funding or support."

"The G8 is ready to sign onto it, if we can prove it safe."

The room stilled for a moment before the eldest member cleared her throat and spoke; "And how, dear Andrew, do you suggest we do that?"

Andrew Combs, Tech Industrialist, Philanthropist, and certified genius, standing before the assembled leadership of the world's biggest corporations, smiled softly in reply; "We give a few million people the chance to try it out, for free. I've already secured licensing rights from a number of publishers and firms to use their intellectual property as starting points for the virtual environment, and the final negotiations with the few that remain, are already underway. I'm staking my fortune, my reputation, and my legacy on this. If there is going to be a world, and any of humanity left to enjoy it, for my children or their children, we here today, must make the bold choice."

-300 years later RGT-

The rhythmic crashing of sword on shield, of greave clad foot upon the ground, was reaching a fevered tempo.

Two sizable battle formations stood across a shallow valley from one another, each on an elevated plain, partly encircled by a swollen river, rushing swiftly with the swell of the spring rains, the brilliant blue sky marked by billowing cumulus clouds that tumbled and boiled across the sky, growing fat and grey with unshed rain.

Leather, bronze and iron armor shone in the wide patches of sunlight, banners snapped taut in the building breeze, dust skirting the empty field between them, teasing the few tuffs of grass and flowers that grew up at random.

It was a fine day for battle.

Trotting along the front rows of the center, a stunning black mare tossed it's head, her silken black mane a match to the raven hair of her rider, a sleek and strong beauty with golden amber eyes who held an ebony bow in one hand, the reins of her mount in the other as she summed her forces up with a practiced eye. Her gaze sought out the figures standing front and center, her elite cohort, a collection of warriors that stood out, as much for their lack of uniformed armor, as their stoic and rigid stance. Amongst the host of NPCs and uniformed Players in the army before her, they were more than just a cut above, they were in her estimation, the top class of the field, behind only herself, and the opposing general's personal guard, who unlike herself and her reunite, stood at the back of the other formations, tightly packed around their commander.

The feckless coward.

Leadership was about strength, and strength led from the front, after all, if the cutting edge of a weapon was not the strongest, the most hardened and refined part of the blade, what was the point? One might as well use a rock instead, as it would likely endure long enough to bludgeon your foe into submission. No, cutting through it all, right to the heart, which was the only proper way to fight, to battle, struggle and over come. That was how and why you waged war.

Glory, honor, pride, all wonderful notions, but they could be had or demonstrated much more readily by other means, through intelligence, cunning, preparation, loyalty, dedication, all important, noble even, but all meaningless without the strength to back them up.

No. Today, was all about the most ancient and reliable of currencies, strength.

Drawing her horse to a standstill, her eyes sought out and found a single figure, clad in red and gold, wearing something much closer to the standard armor of her army, yet distinctive with it's long crimson sash, the spear and shield icon of victory emblazoned upon the shield, helmet and the belt of the warrior, her long blood red hair flowing in a single braid from under the lightweight helmet, the long red painted, hardened bronze spear, just indicative of her house as her hair, as the icon, her emerald green eyes, sharp and keep, hungry almost as they looked at her, a small eager smile just visible underneath.

The Captain of her personal Cohort, the tip of the spear, the Shield of Autumn Valley, the scion of the House of Victors, the invincible maiden, the only one to have ever bested herself in single combat, and her dear friend, Pyrrha Nikos.

As the High General of Autumn Valley, Cinder Fall was of noble blood, her family had ruled the upper Levels here in Server One since the establishment of the first Player led domains, it was their right, their duty, to rule, to lead, to make this part of the world, such as it was, safe. To make it home, for however long the Grid endured. House Nikos, were warriors, through and through. Some of the first great battles had starred them, and for as long as Autumn Valley had stood on its own, the families of Fall and Nikos had stood before all challengers, before the dark spawn of the grid itself, protecting the players and NPCs that existed within it's reach.

Sparing her friend a small smile and nod, she then turned her gaze across the shallow valley to their foes, to the interlopers grasping at whatever they could on their way down, falling from glory as they had so long and richly deserved. The banners blue and grey of House Winchester, numbered twice what her own red and gold banners did, but numbers did not a battle make, for unlike the disgraced and debuffed Alistair Winchester, Cinder's own army comprised just over half of its numbers, from the players that had sworn loyalty to their home Autumn Valley. She knew for a fact that eight out of ten of Winchesters forces were NPCs, bought and paid for with their substantial, if now finite wealth. Wealth gained by looting, bullying, swindling and even outright stealing if the tales were even half true. While some of them might have been of high level, most would be basic fighters of various ranks, chaff and fodder for her better, more refined army, but also, and likely more to the point, an obstacle to getting at the man himself.

It would not stop her.

Turning back to her own forces, she shook her own head, just as her mare did, the wind catching her long black locks, pulling them out like a flag as she drew in a breath, and raised her bow high, calling for the crashing and stomping staccato to cease, which it did in a single deafening, unified chant of _"Hoosh!"_

"Army of Autumn Valley!" she started, her voice clear and loud enough to be heard by both sides, thanks to a special skill any decent leader should have; "Fighters! Soldiers! Warriors! Champions! Citizens all!" she laid her bow across her lap, and took another long deep breath, intending to make this speech short, direct, and to the point, after all, there was a war waiting on them!

"Today we stand on the edge of a battlefield, facing a disgraced Clan, cast down from their server for failures, griefing, and unbecoming conduct. A family of cowards! Hiding behind a wall of fighters bought and paid for, of NPCs conscripted as both insult, and insurance, against you, my comrades, my friends, my family!"

"_Aut-umn! Vall-ey!"_ the whole of the players in the army chanted in reply, only moving their mouths to shout.

Cinder smiled inwardly at that, a surge of pride threatening to split her face with a smile wide as the sky.

Composing herself, she allowed her horse to slowly walk forward, along the battle line, her speech ready to give that last boost of morale; "They come, invaders without a home, disgraced in defeat, seeking to take what they have not earned, and subjugate you and others to their whims and abuse! What shall we say to that?"

"_Never!"_ they shouted back as one.

"What shall Elderwood say to that?" she almost taunted.

"_Never!"_ they cried out as if insulted.

"What shall Mistral say to that?" she asked as if unsure.

"_Never!"_ they roared in reply.

"What shall Vale say to that?" she roared back in provocation.

"_Never!"_ they replied like a thunder clap.

"What shall we say to them?" she barked out, her bow rising up slowly from her lap, and into the air over her head.

"_Come and get some!"_ they bayed like a million wolves, howling their defiance.

"What shall I say to you?" she said in an almost normal voice that still carried to all assembled before her.

"_Kill them all!" _her army shrieked, all but shaking the ground.

"Kill them all! No surrender! No prisoners!" High General Fall cried out as she spurred her horse around to face the invaders, drew an arrow from the quiver hanging upon her mounts shoulder, a flash of her eyes igniting it with white hot flames before she aimed upwards, then loosed the projectile high into the air, a single trumpet blast resounding as the charge was sounded.

"_Kill! Kill! Kill!"_ the army chanted as one, marking their steps as they marched forward starting slow, but quickly gaining speed as they closed the gap, shields up, spears out, swords drawn, and arrows now streaking across the sky.

So abrupt was their attack, the forces of House Winchester, while in position, were not at the ready, and as such, they scrambled to form up into phalanxes. Within thirty seconds, the cavalry was slashing the flanks, and not a full minute before that, the infantry was smashing through the enemy lines like a hammer through pottery.

-X-

Her blood sang, her spear lancing out to a rhythm almost in time with the thundering of her heart in her ears, a smile almost manic yet closer still to rapturous on her face as she moved through the ranks of enemies, to say she marched forward would be a disservice, for she fairly _danced_ her way forward, heedless of danger, deflecting a blow with her shield before kicking a swordsman back, ducking under a spear before smashing a neck with the edge of her shield, leaping over an axe as her spear struck the gap in shoulder armor, her emerald eyes shimmering as her ruddy, sweat covered flesh did, under the darkening sky and waning light, never did she feel so alive, so empowered than she did in battle, not mattering if it was a single skilled opponent, or a hundred poor fools brought before her for slaughter, the moment between heartbeats, the exertion of survival, the challenge of war, made her senses ring with clarity, her body smolder with power, and her mind sharper than any blade known.

She would have laughed in utter blissful enjoyment if not for the need to make every breath count, the thrust and parry, the dash and weave of her path as she cut through fodder like a scythe through wheat.

Sensing a blow coming from her left, she pushed back with her shield, blunting the attack, lowering her spear under her arm and forcing it through the cut out, up into her foes belly, tearing through leather like paper, the force behind it telling of her level, and the massive disparity that stood between the poor NPC and her, the spearhead exploding out of it's back and into the arm of another.

Planting her foot against the now dead swordsman's chest, she kicked her weapon free, and spun, blocking the thrust of another spear aimed for her back, the weapon skittering along the shaft of her weapon as she leaned in and crashed her helmet into the unprotected face of the skirmisher, dazing him before a massive curved blade cleaved him in two from behind.

"Getting tired?" Yatsuhashi asked as he hefted his massive weapon up with one hand, for all of the dust dirt and blood, none of it his own, the mountain of a man looked as fresh as he had that morning, his almost limitless endurance made a mockery of her own impressive reserves.

"Ha! I'm only now on my third wind." Pyrrha laughed back as she shifted slightly, a sword thrust missing her by a hands width, her elbow and shield crashing into the foolish soldier's face, his head snapping back with an audible crack, his body going limp as he tumbled to the ground.

"Good," he replied with a nod, "we're closing in on the rearguard, their cavalry is spent, and the elite forces are closing ranks around their General."

"Hmph, the coward. Where is Cinder?" the redhead asked before taking a deep breath and turning to flank her large friend.

"Just behind us, she dismounted not long ago to spare Shadow." Yatsuhashi replied as he batted away an errant javelin with the flat of his blade.

A Glaive darted between them, crashing through another skirmisher that had managed to get close.

"Less talking more fighting!" a blue haired lancer stated glibly as he moved into place between the other two, a small pocket of calm forming as the battle shifted onwards.

Neptune laughed at the reaction of the other two, their stances shifting back into an aggressive posture.

A lance of flames arced over their heads into a group of spearmen who were trying to reform into a battle line, the General of Autumn Valley herself joining their group.

"My friends, we are on the edge of victory," she said her two curved short swords drawing out, her bow hung across her back, only three arrows left in the quiver; "One final push?"

"Aye!" Called a yellow haired Spearman, who strode up beside Pyrrha, and gave a small flourish, his eyes bright. "I can't wait to put my spear into that bitch Alabastar's gut!"

"Glad you could join us Leo." Cinder quipped as they looked at the thinning forces between them, and the elite guard. "Together?"

"Together!" her friends shouted beside her.

/~/

The ringing in her ears as she woke up told her she was still alive.

What was more, it also told her she had not been knocked out for very long, alongside the soreness that washed over her body, and the dull throbbing of her shoulder spoke to some mild injury, blunted by her armor. If only she had kept her helmet on, it might have been fully negated.

Her eyes opened slowly, despite the sluggish urgency she felt to get up and move as quickly as possible, her body was not responding as she wished, a delay in the throughput meaning her injuries, while clearly non-fatal, were such that she was not going to be in fighting shape once she got herself up and going.

The muffled sound of gun fire however was prime motivation for her to push past the groggy and disoriented feelings, her vision only slightly blurry as she forced herself onto her hands and knees, summoned her helmet, and then drew her pistol as she staggered to her feet.

Bullets pinged off of metal someplace behind her, and she was grateful that she was behind a decent sized rock, her off hand steadying her as she oriented herself on the sound of a suppressed auto-rifle going full song, rounds impacting both metal and flesh some distance away, a death cry following the long burst.

Glass shattered, and an incoherent insult was shouted before another long burst flowed out and a meaty sound cut a battle cry short.

It was then she realized part of what was obscuring her vision was not in fact head trauma, but smoke, and lots of it, belching from a pair of ruined vehicles not far away.

Inhaling deeply, she braced herself and moved around, looking at the wrecked body of the helicopter, ablaze and bathed in black oily smoke, a red car crashed into it, and a woman with a submachine gun crouched behind an open door, firing at the slightly less damaged black two door to her left, as bullets sprayed across the ground and door she took cover behind.

Pulling her gun up in both hands, the holographic sight on top of her GDS Mk71, glowed red as it rested over her targets head, two rapid shots scattered blood, bone and gray matter across the inside of the door and seat as she moved forward. Her eyes swept the vehicle, looking for any more threats.

When none presented, she paused, glancing over at where she had heard the suppressed rifle fire last, to see her so called savoir stepping out from a stream of smoke, as he replaced the large box magazine with a new one, reloading the weapon.

"Glad you could join the fun." Blaze said tiredly, his lip split, glasses gone and a sizable black eye adorned his face. His clothes where rumpled, and a bloody graze showed along his left forearm, a few bloodless holes in the worn brown jacket spoke to some hidden armor, the limp some unseen injury to his right leg.

"What the hell happened?" Belladonna coughed out, as she likewise reloaded, the smoke still affecting her even with her helmet on.

He smirked dourly, "Something most might label as a close call, but what I surmise as my infamous luck." He looped his uninjured armed through a short strap on the modified carbine and slung it behind his right shoulder, before he drew his large revolver out and reloaded it as well, six large empty shells ringing off of the pavement.

Blake grunted slightly as she holstered her pistol, the surveyed the scene: one crashed out red car with four dead bodies around it, it's partner vehicle riddled with holes, tires flat, and two other bodies hanging from windows, two more bodies between it and their own vehicle, one side showing an obscene number of dents and holes, glass shattered but still in place, barely transparent any more, and the burning husk of a small black helicopter, almost on top of the first car, the flight crew little more than charred figures in the front of the mangled craft.

"What happened exactly?" she asked as she walked stiffly over to him, her legs sore, but uninjured, "I remember the missile and you shooting off a flare, then I shot at the helicopter, but another missile came, then there was an explosion, and then… I woke up to this."

Azure shrugged in reply; "I weaved over to the side, drove under a road sign that got blasted by the missile, missed us, but was close enough to roll my car, you got thrown clear, I rode it out, then got out and started shooting. You killed the pilot, and the gunner didn't get on the stick fast enough, they pancaked onto the tarmac, and got hit from behind by the lead car, and I showered them in rounds until the chopper caught fire. Was shooting it out with the rest then you came too and took out the last Redband."

"Redband?" Belladonna asked curiously.

"The Gang that attacked us." Blaze answered as he waved her back over to his car; "Player run crew, they span levels three four and five, based outta Central here in level four, like a lot of gangs, they take any and all of the jobs they can, including interdiction bounties. Thankfully, they aren't exactly good at it."

"Do they use a lot of NPC's?" she asked as she followed him, suddenly feeling tired as the adrenaline started to wear off.

"Depends on the job, for something like this, it would be a crew of NPC's, led by one or two players. I fragged them both, but they didn't zero out, so I'm sure they will be looking to try and catch me, or rather us, as soon as they respawn and can get a ride." He walked up to his car and put the long gun into the trunk, then moved to the open drivers door; "We need to move, I gotta get my package to Old Daleras before sundown, from there we'll grab a plane and get to central, see about getting you to the sub-junction."

Blake nodded in agreement and walked over to the vehicle, bending over to retrieve the heavy submachine gun he'd given her, pulled the door open, placed it back behind her seat, and climbed back in.

The car started, the engine stuttering slightly, before they returned to the road and he accelerated sedately.

"Old Dalears is about two hours away," he said as they slowly get back up to speed, "If the car holds that long, we can drop the package, and get to a safehouse I have on the edge of the city, from there we'll heal up, gear up, and then make for the airport, I have an old plane I don't use much anymore in storage there, that will get us back to Central City in about three hours if we catch the upper level air currents, or they don't try and grief us on the way back."

Belladonna grunted then removed her helmet, and sighed; "We'll need to stop before that, my armor is over rated for this server, and will power down in about an hour, when that happens it will lock down and I'll be useless." She shrugged at his unspoken question, a glance at her with an arched eyebrow; "I have some unpowered armor that will work here, but I'll need a place to change out."

Blaze nodded once; "There is a gas station about twenty miles down the road, I can do some minor repairs to keep us going while you change, and we can actually get some food to help heal while we go, but we can't wait too long, sundown is just shy of four hours from now, and dollars to donuts we'll have another fight between here and the drop off."

"Will the car hold up for another firefight?" she asked as she looked out of the obscured window to her right, a dozen deformed bullets still embedded in the glass.

"No idea," he replied as they crested a small hill and then descended into a long wide and shallow valley, "Anything bigger than an LMG could hurt us right now, the armor is almost used up, and the motor is running hot, but we still have plenty of fuel and I have more ammo and some spare weapons in the trunk. We'll go down fighting if we must."

Unappealing as that really was, if nothing else, Blake could respect the sentiment behind it…

* * *

_**A/N: So I finished this about 5 or 6 days sooner than I planned... so yeah, that's a thing...**_

_**As stated this is an AU/Crossover, and to answer the unasked questions, I'm crossing RWBY, SAO, GTA, Fallout, Destiny, The Elder Scrolls and TRON with some of my own Original Characters, into something not unlike Coeur Al'Aran's Fic "Forged Destiny" but with a bit more of my own take, and the unspoken secret that the characters more or less know they are in a massive game, but that due to how long it's been going, and they are trapped, the understanding is faded, the lines between what is "real" and what is not, becoming rather fuzzy. There are other mechanics and aspects I will be using but will not delve into here and now for... plot reasons, as much as anything else.**_

_**This is very much a labour of love, as my muse is really on life support and has been for years, but I am forcing myself to do this, rather than go back and take up some of my old unfinished fics because... memories and emotions are bitches. Yeah.**_

_**Expect an update to my other active Fic, FO4: New Boston sometime in the next two weeks or less I think, I'm doing well, but have hit a mild snag in the new oneshot, and sadly, due to the over arching narrative and it's timing structure, I can't skip forward to the next entry I've just started because of some possibly massive spoilers for the following entry that is still in the prewriting stage.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_Here it is, apologies and explanations at the end of the Chapter_**

* * *

Remnants of the Grid

Darkspawn as a rule were not all that substantial, being made of collected leftover bytes, corrupted and useless as it was, yet somehow functioning, if only in a malevolent fashion.

It absolutely did not mean that they were harmless.

What made fighting Darkspawn a challenge, was when you came across any that had been around a while. The older the corrupted data, the stronger it became. It was a grim task breaking them down, and the truly dangerous ones were old, some of the legendary Darkspawns were elders, old as the grid itself, and by all accounts, unstoppable, or at the least, took a lot of killing to halt. Only a very few had ever been stopped, but thankfully, such were seemingly consigned only to the fringe, and upper levels. The Hub, was clear of such nightmares. Or so was the tradition.

Levels Zero and One Oh One, were the two levels of the Hub Server, Level Zero being the central point of the whole Grid network, a social server unto itself that allowed Players access to all of the one hundred levels, across Nine servers, spanning time periods and genres from ancient Egypt to the distant future, as well as the Elite Server which was a crossover, a total mix of all of the previous Servers Levels, blended into 9 hair raising levels of total open sandbox style chaos, where NPCs and AI enemies of high levels roamed freely, where Players could garner nearly obscene amounts of XP, loot, and perks, but at great risk, and unlike the lower levels of the previous servers, the cost of zeroing out, was promised be absolute. It was why Level One Oh One was so popular, an open PvE combat zone with many of the same targets as Server Nine, but without the risk, and only half of the rewards. Unlike Server Nine loot and gear however, anything from One Oh One was locked to its associated Server. Server Nine loot and gear, could be used anyplace within the Grid. The very few Players that managed to survive, and use said gear and loot, had quite the advantage.

But it did not make them as god like as some might wish to believe.

Not when facing Darkspawn at any rate.

Simulated steel cleaved gelatinous void, a spray of dark corrupted data fizzling out into nothing as she moved forward, flanking the next target, her previous now little more than motes of fizzling electric based bytes of data that scattered away like a fine mist.

"Is that all of them?" Raven asked as she turned in place, scanning the battlefield, her long curved blade at the ready.

"Yeah, that's the last." Tiayang said as he dusted his hands free, wisps of flame dissipating from his fingers.

"Good, where is Qrow?" Summer asked as she flourished her own blade to clear bits of the corrupted data from her weapon, her eyes searching a tangle of debris and coalescing data nearby.

"Found it." The man in question said as he clambered up from a hole in the barren ground, a slender object looking of burnished metal tucked into his belt.

"Good work," Tai said as offered a hand out to pull his friend the rest of the way up; "Lets get to the Hub, Oz will want to get this locked down soon as can be."

"Hmm, I wonder why such an item would be out here?" Summer said in reply, as she sheathed her sword and drew out her Link, setting a way point on the team map.

"Allegedly, all free formed data eventually ends up on the fringe," Raven said as she fell into step behind the team leader; "Before the Grid takes it and recycles what it can to generate more of the world space. If this is as old as the grid itself, then at some point, it must have gotten carried along out here."

"Core data then?" Taiyang mused, "I mean otherwise it would have broken down like almost anything else right?"

"That's Bart's theory at least." Qrow said as he brought up the rear, passing the item along up the line to Tai for safe keeping.

"Then it would be powerful stuff, whatever it is." Summer said as they crested a small hill, the desolate and ever changing landscape turning into a more stable and pleasant setting rather suddenly.

"Powerful enough to warrant Ozpin's attention," Raven replied darkly, her eyebrows drawn down in thought as she summoned a portal to a friend who was waiting for them at the nearest Nexus Junction, "Powerful enough that the Grimm did all they could to keep us away from it, but never got too close to it themselves."

Her observation did not go unnoticed by her teammates, her brother and his best friend sharing a wary glance as their leader hummed in agreement; "Which means Salem would want to keep it hidden and away from Ozpin at all costs."

"Explaining the unusually high number of Dark Spawn here, even for the fringe." Qrow finished the thought, a wary glance over his shoulder as he followed Taiyang and Summer through the portal, Raven shooting him an "I told you so" look, her lips turning down into a dissatisfied frown that made the expression almost pouty, if not for the intensity behind her blood red eyes.

"I don't like being in the dark." She said lowly before he crossed the threshold, causing him to pause, his hand just poking out on the other side.

"You also hate asking obvious questions." Qrow replied, an eyebrow quirking at her, "Guess you can't have this both ways."

"The fact that you ask so few questions is almost as loathsome." Her reply cut back with hidden accusation.

"Later Rae, that or you can ask your questions when we meet with Oz at Beacon."

"I just might you know."

"If you do I'll buy you a whole case of your favorite, a box of condoms and make myself and Summer scarce so you can put moves on Tai finally."

"Don't tempt me with a good time brother mine."

"Right." Qrow grunted in amusement as he stepped through, Raven hot on his heels.

-18 Years Later RGT-

"Your work for myself and thusly the people of Autumn Valley has been exemplary, and as such, so too your reward!" Cinder called out as she dug into the loot before her.

Golden coin showered from her palms as she scattered generous handfuls of loot out over her assembled army, her perch upon an outcropping of rocks centered in the midst of the remains of the Winchester camp, both the matriarch and patriarch bound and on their knees before her, a large war chest sitting open between them.

Alistair and Alabaster Winchester had been beaten, their army broken and destroyed in detail, their personal bodyguard slaughtered to a person, and what treasure they had left, now was looted before their very eyes, yet they held their heads up defiantly still.

Surrounded as they were by the elite guard of Autumn Valley, no one would have faulted them any displays of fear or despair, but the almost haughty defiance and arrogant distain they showed was off putting if nothing else, and worrisome for many who had fought this day. But High General Fall was canny enough not to allow it to affect her, outwardly at least.

Stepping back from the chest, Cinder allowed for her lieutenants to take over the distribution of the loot, her gaze returning to the last of their enemies, resolve set hard within her features.

"Alistair and Alabaster Winchester," she stated clearly, her hands coming to rest upon the hilt of her swords, the unspoken promise clear for all to see; "you have committed crimes of aggression and malice against the people of Autumn Valley, you have violated the accords of Server One, you are outcasts of Server Two, with a sizable bounty upon your heads, and you are responsible for the deaths of a great number of Server One non-combatant players and NPCs and the pillaging of the Black Hills, her villages and treasure, what have you to say to these accusations?"

"I'll not be a party to a mockery of justice, nor spare any further words to one whose hands are twice bloodier than my own." Alistair declared, his eyes fixed to a point far away over the battlefield.

Cinder inclined her head slightly, as if it was answer enough, a curved obsidian blade slowly drawing from her hip, resting delicately in her hand; "I see, and what of you lady Winchester? Do you submit to your husband's declaration?"

Alabaster shook her head slightly, her long flowing mane of ragged auburn hair the only thing out of place on the buxom yet powerful figure she cut, even on her knees beside her partner; "I demand to be remanded to a proper authority either here or within the Levels of Server Two, if there is a bounty, I should like to contest its legality."

"Alabaster, hold your tongue!" her husband snapped, his gaze fixed upon her now with almost jealous fury.

Fall tutted softly as she closed her golden eyes and drew a long breath. Lowering her blade to her side, she glided over to a place before her prisoners, eyes still closed as she crouched in front of them, her eyes opening slowly, before sparks of magic began flowing from them, licks of flame, and drops of either spilling from the corners of her eyes, now cast in an unnatural light.

"Unified until the moment before the last I see," she then thrust her blade deep into Alistair's neck, angling down into his torso, directly into his heart, a flash of power searing the wound open, as blood poured out and bubbled away in rancid smoke, "So be it."

Alistair did not even cry out, even as his wife whimpered softly, her gaze wavering, but still upon him, as he at last signed out brokenly, blood dribbling from his lips, an unspoken curse, or perchance a more soft answer lost as his eyes flashed, and he went limp, only staying upright by Cinder's hand on his face, her thumb drawing his eyes closed as data started slowly drifting away, Experience Points rushing into her.

The High General, then slowly withdrew her blade from the smoldering body, mostly now armor and bones, and gently laid down what was left before wiping the weapon clean on the ground, and replacing it on her hip.

"Take her back to our camp, and prepare a wagon," Cinder said as she stood up, and drew in a luxuriant breath, her eyes still shimmering with new power, "We return to Mistrial at first light, send couriers ahead to Vale and Elderwood, tell them that today Autumn Valley is safe from further acts of aggression from House Winchester."

"Aye General." An NPC replied before dashing off to follow the command.

Moving away, Cinder rejoined her Elites, a pleased but tired expression on her face. Their own expressions varied from mirroring her own, to mildly uncertain.

"My friends," she said as she draped an arm over Neptune's shoulders, "today could not have happened but for you and your skill, bravery and dedication. We rest and take satisfaction, and upon our return to Mistral we shall celebrate as only we can."

"Should we have killed one and not the other?" Yatsuhashi asked quietly, as Alabaster was escorted away. Pyrrha and Leo nodded in agreement to the question, even as Neptune shrugged mildly at Cinder's arm removing itself from his shoulder.

"It's clearly what they wanted." Cinder replied, only mild irritation in the undercurrent of her tone, her gaze sweeping the small circle of warriors.

"But to what end?" Leo Gault, the agile spearman and Pyrrha's constant shadow mused as he fussed over the shaft of his weapon, picking at some minor damage that had been done.

Cinder narrowed her eyes at him and tilted her head in confusion; "What do you mean Leo?"

The golden spearman paused in his fidgeting and turned his spear downwards, sticking it into the ground as he replied; "What I mean Cinder, is that we are in fact, one Winchester short of a full set, Alistair, Alabaster and Blossom are all accounted for, two dead, one in chains, but what of Cardin?"

Cinder relaxed slightly, and then waved a hand dismissively over the battlefield; "No doubt among the slain or dying, he would have been in the main force, given his rebellious reputation."

"But no one saw him there." Pyrrha said quietly, her emerald eyes growing dark as she looked down at the ground, her helmet, damaged beyond all repair turned over in her hands, her brows knitting together in thought; "In fact, no one even saw him here at all. None of the scouts, none of the commanders or other leaders reported seeing him anywhere."

"And it's not like he doesn't stand out in a crowd, even one as large as this had been." Neptune quipped as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Cinder scowled lightly, her lips turning downward in displeasure at the thought that the scion of house Winchester might have slipped her grasp.

"Think about this," Gault said as he gestured, his hands helps up in appeal; "There is no way he escaped with any reasonable sized party, the scouts would have seen or heard something and reported it, so he is either alone, or with two maybe three others, and not anyplace near here."

"So then where might he go?" Yaysuhashi asked for all, as he swept the horizon with his gaze, as if a banner or marker of some kind would suddenly appear.

"I don't think it matters," Cinder said with finality, her hands resting on her hips, but her gaze at the space between them, her eyes showing deep and focused thought; "Without an army to back him, or any treasure to buy said army, he is of no direct threat to us, his family name is reviled across the Server, and even in the wildlands of the upper Levels, few would risk offending Autumn Valley by harboring or aiding him."

"But what if he left Server One?"

The circle of warriors looked to their mightiest member, her emerald gaze fixed on a point on the far horizon, to where a mountain pass marked the point between the maps of level fifteen, where they now stood, and Level Sixteen, a series of maps rife with untamed and barely explored wilderness, and the next to last Level before the unsettled Levels of Seventeen to Twenty, and one of the two direct Junctions (the other found on Level One) between the Servers, and the Hub.

"Then I'd say he's no longer our problem," Neptune replied after a long pause, "after all, the bounty was for the heads of House Winchester, daddy dearest was just zeroed out, and mommy is in chains. There is effectively no 'House of Winchester' anymore."

"He's right." Leo answered as he took up his spear once more, then slid it onto his back, "Even if Cardin escapes back to Server Two or to the Hub, all he is going to have is his Level, and whatever gear he could carry, for everything else, he's starting from scratch."

Everyone seemed to agree with this conclusion, but even so, Cinder pulled Leo aside as the rest started to wander off back towards their camp on the other side of the battlefield.

"Leo," she said softly, her amber gaze following the sleek and powerful form of her redheaded friend, but her hand firmly gripping the golden haired warrior's bicep; "You have contacts on Servers Two and Three still, yes?" her grip was not painful, but it was iron clad, belittling her slighter stature.

"Yeah, I know some players on them, I even know a guy on Server Five… Why?" his voice betrayed no fear or suspicion, but his question was not as simple as it sounded, and they both knew it.

"Put the word out, fifty thousand for information on the whereabouts of Cardin Winchester."

"You really want a bounty on the guy?"

"No," High General Fall gave a single shake of her head as she let go of him, and moved to follow the others; "Just information. Cardin will run afoul of the wrong someone soon enough on his own. I just want to know where, and if possible, when."

"Gotcha."

/*/

The return journey to the capitol of Eastmarch was vastly less exciting as the quest to clear the road to Green Lake, as the heroes had done their job well, with roads clear and free of both trolls and bandits, as well as a cheaply bartered wagon with a aged and portly mare, the trip back took less than half of the time, which bode well for the Lady Mage and her Knight apparent escort, who even now took up the right flank of the line of four heroes who strode into the main hall of the Earl's palace, aptly, but uncreative named "The East Hall" yet the lavish and ornate décor more than made up for the plain and obvious name of the place.

"Ahh! The Heroes return triumphant!" Earl Corbin Ballard, a well known if not respected NPC within the Server exclaimed as they came to a stop and bowed their heads before him.

"Well done, a messenger arrived just this morning to inform me that the road is clear, and the guards are all in place at Green Lake and the forest outpost as planned." He waved his hand, and a steward stepped forward with a small chest, brimming with gold in his arms, which was then laid before the four heroes. Weiss curtsied this time as she spoke; "We thank the Earl for the generous reward, and take our leave with the hope of another pleasant meeting in the future."

"You will not take up another quest for I and my people?" he replied in confusion, Ren and Nora pausing to look at their new found ally, for a hint.

"I am afraid I and Knight Arc have a previous obligation we must now attend too," she replied pleasantly, but then nodded to the Ninja and Barbarian once; "I can only speak for myself and my Sentinel, the others must speak for themselves."

Ren took that as his cue, then shook his head; "I and my companion also have another task at hand, but we promise to return as our adventures permit, and to render aid if it is needed."

"A pity, but understandable, to that then, I bid you good luck and safe journey brave heroes, The East Hall is open to you upon your return!"

Outside in the impressive courtyard, the four Jaune paused with the others for a moment to confer, the imminent departure of the Ninja and Barbarian seemed likely, even as Weiss diplomatically praised and thanked them. It was however, the arrival of a courier that interrupted the farewell:

"I've been looking for you, got some things to deliver, your hands only… Let's see here, a missive for the Lady Mage, and a personal message for the fair Barbarian Lass and her silent companion. That's it, got to go."

A simple letter rested in Ren's hands, while an ornate looking leather bound scroll resided in Weiss' palms, a faint glow indicated a priority quest.

"Oooh a letter, what's it say Renny?" Nora fussed as she pawed at his shoulder while he opened it gingerly.

"It's a message, from Robyn in Avon…" he said patiently, pursuing it further, "Hmm, it seems she's found a lead on someone who knew your parents."

"Ah! Really?!" the ginger haired barbarian exclaimed excitedly, her teal eyes lighting up with new found energy, "Where? Who? What did they say?!"

"Robyn wishes to meet us in the Hub to give the full story, it also seems there is some sort of item needed to talk to this person." Ren answered before handing the letter over to his friend for her own benefit, if not also his own.

Turning to the other two, Ren bowed lightly; "It was nice working with you, if ever our paths cross again, or you would like our help, we are more than happy to lend a hand if you would but ask."

"Yep! We make a decent team, and friendly faces can be hard to come by out there, so feel free to share a fire or a quest if ever you need Heroes to help you smash a problem!" Nora interjected as she stuffed the note into Ren's side pouch for safe keeping.

"We'll keep you in mind guys, it was good to meet you." Jaune replied with a smile, as Weiss nodded as well and responded in kind; "Yes, I think that would be a beneficial arrangement for us all, until we meet again, fare well, good luck, and stay alive."

As the odd pair left them, Jaune looked to Weiss as she again pursued their own message, her expression growing concerned, her brow knitting and her lips pressing into a thin line.

"Bad news?" he asked softly as she at last closed the scroll and tucked it away within her robes.

"Not as such, but concerning if nothing else." The white haired spell sword replied as she smoothed out the front of her robes nervously, "We are being requested to go to the Tamriel Levels on a quest to help my sister. It seems she is on a job for General Ironwood, but it needs to be kept off the books, so she is asking for our help."

"Sounds important." Jaune replied, knowing that any task set forth by General Ironwood was no small thing, and to be asked to help in any way, was a big deal, and no small boon to their reputation in certain circles. It would likely be a lot more Experience Points and loot than most NPC commissioned quests, as Player quests tended to be both more complicated, and risky, and General Ironwood didn't become the General for nothing but small tasks. The man had all but single handedly united the warriors of Atlas and Mantel, before conquered three of the most inhospitable and dangerous levels in the middle of Server Two while not much older than Jaune was now, and had in recent years, both established working relationships with leaders across a number of Servers and led the efforts across all of the Servers to establish outposts and eke out a foothold in Server Ten, something no one else had ever managed to do in the known and recorded history of the Grid.

"Cross Server work is always a bit tricky," Lady Schnee replied, her gaze cool and measured; "But the fact that she is calling upon us, me namely, to help in a covert quest, speaks of a quantity of intrigue and risk I don't know that I'm comfortable with." She sighed softly then shrugged at the young knight; "Never the less, it's my sister, and she is asking for help, and we both owe her a favor."

"What makes you think this will be cross server work?" Jaune asked as fiddled with a strap on his gauntlet absently.

"This is Winter we are talking about," Weiss answered, no small hint of pride in her tone as she pulled her Link out and set a way point for the nearest Level Transition; "She is one of General Ironwood's top operatives, if we don't end up crossing from one Server to the next, I will be pleasantly shocked and relieved."

"Why is that?" Jaune asked as he followed her away from the Palace of Eastmarch, its black and gold banners fluttering in the warm breeze.

"Because of where in the Tamriel Levels we are going." She replied impatiently, "We're going to Skyrim."

"Oh just great," Arc responded with equal parts groan and whine; "One of only four Levels in the whole of the Grid to have freaking Dragons in it."

"Dragons tend to give a lot of Experience Points Jaune, and they also tend to guard some interesting if not highly valuable and powerful loot."

"Yeah, if you live long enough to get close to it. And don't get me started on the Giants!"

Weiss bit her tongue, and grimaced in reply. Dragons she could handle, but Jaune had a more than valid point about the Giants…

/*/

_**Server Eight, Level five, NADZ, White Fang Gang Outpost Number 2, somewhere West of the Ruins of New York**_

"She _should_ have been back already." The hoarse baritone moved past her closed silvery eyes a pair of meters away, the sound of a weapon being checked forced them open.

"It's been one day, and traffic through the Hub is only getting worse, and that means more Nexus Errors, Adam." Ilia sighed as she stood up from her stool and stretched her lithe frame out, her arms extending upwards then behind her, a few loud pops barely muffled by her armored robes before she lowered her hands back to her side and hooked a thumb into her gunbelt.

"Then why not come back during the night when traffic is lighter?" Adam replied, his cerulean blue eyes flashed from behind his open helmet, the tall yet lean Titan glanced at the smaller Warlock with clear frustration written across his face.

Amitola sighed and threw her hands up in frustration, Taurus' angry nervous energy sapping her patience once more as she snipped at him; "Maybe because that's when the maintenance protocols are in place? Maybe she accidentally got spit out into another Server like _you_ did last month when it was _your_ turn to get supplies and messages from the Hub? How the fuck should I know Adam, I am not despite popular opinion, a mind reader."

Her eyes shifted from silvery grey to an almost neon orange, indicating her mounting frustration at his impudence and fidgeting. Sadly, he only vaguely caught the clue to settle himself, his tone becoming more pleading rather than angry as he pressed on.

"Maybe, but then why not send a message with her Link?" He slid his sword onto his back, right next to his shotgun, the work to merge the two into a single multi-use weapon, a trademark of the Jaegers, still not yet finished. "Most of the other Servers have much better connection coverage; four out of nine have almost total coverage for instant messaging."

"Maybe she wanted more than a day off from your whiney bitch ass?" Ilia snarked under her breath, as she turned away and busied herself with putting the rest of her armor on the old fashioned way.

Adam scowled mildly, only catching the latter half of her insult, but not caring. Friends they may have been, but without Blake and her sense of calm to mediate between them, they were more prone to clashing. It was partly the nature of their classes, but also more so their vastly differing personalities. But the loyalty between the three of them could not be questioned.

"Qrow expects us to be leaving today for the upper levels, that can't happen until Blake arrives, and then we have to actually load up and get there."

"Qrow can eat my ass." Ilia at last snapped as she slammed a crate shut and stuffed a handful of magazines into her belt pouch, and rounded on her teammate; "And you can blow me. Blake will get here when she gets here, and we will leave for the bounty as soon as we are geared up, packed up, and together. Not before. Now either finish prepping what you can and be quiet, or get the hell out of the camp and go cool off before I stick a magic flaming sword so far down your throat you shit sunlight."

Adam paled only slightly, but grunted in understanding as he moved to another crate and gathered some folding hand tools and repacked them into a small satchel, that his ghost then transmatted into storage.

'_Blake, where the flying fuck are you?'_ Ilia mused to herself as she gazed at the sun, low over the east, backlighting the ruined towers and skyscrapers of a bygone era that was violently and suddenly cut short…

* * *

**_A/N: Okay so... Yeah, last month (March) sucked hard for me, and it looks like April isn't going to be much better, but May is looking to (hopefully) be better, at least in my personal life, insofar as the world at large with this Covid-19 shit... Well, that remains to be seen. As in if suddenly a big flaming rock crashes into the ocean, we'll all know that the Book of Revelation is in fact unfolding before our eyes..._**

**_But for real, my job is secure because I work for a local hospital network, but thankfully not in the healthcare part, so I'm mostly safe. Mostly being the operative word here. I'll be updating as I knock out chapters for this and my FO4 story, no schedule as of yet, at least not until May when my work location, and rotation schedule change to something more humane than overnights and weekends and doubles every other week._**

**_On a semi-related note, people, please for the love of god, if at all possible, stay home, and wash your fucking hands._**

**_Wash them damn you!_**


	5. Chapter 5

Remnants of the Grid

By some miracle, or more likely, a glitch in the Grid, they arrived in Old Dalears with time to spare and no further confrontations, the courier mission completed, Blaze was rewarded, and to Belladonna's pleasant surprise, he promptly gave her a generous cut of the payout, as soon as he had returned to the now smoking car outside a warehouse that looked almost as rundown and abandoned as any she had seen on Server 8, save the lack of rampant overgrowth and wildlife. She peeled off a hand full of large denominations to hand back to him, to compensate for the clothes and armor he had purchased for her at their one stop on the way in, but he politely refused.

"Keep it," he explained as they walked towards what she figured to be some kind of a public transit station nearby, the damaged car seemingly forgotten, "Transfer it over or use it to buy yourself stuff if you ever come back to Server 5, you carry yourself well here."

Blake shrugged and pocketed the funds, the snug fitting pants, long button-down shirt and fitted leather vest was surprisingly close to her more normal attire back in Server 8 than she could dare have hoped, even if the well fitted body armor underneath it all rubbed her curves awkwardly and felt borderline stifling in the withering heat of the sunset. It was nowhere near as comfortable as her normal Hunter Armor, but after comparing the stats and adjusting for the differences in Levels, she knew it was the next best thing to her over rated armor, now locked in her master inventory until she returned home.

"I rarely leave my Server, and the lowest I've ever been before was Server 7." She rubbed her chin lightly as a boxy and brightly colored vehicle rolled up and hissed loudly, doors opening on the sides; "Still, despite the crazy levels of aggression some of the NPCs show, it's a nice change of pace. I'd almost say relaxing, but it's also kind of crowded feeling." She peered at a group of tall buildings that shone with perfectly fitted glass, and not a hint of the decay she was used to seeing. It was almost surreal, yet she knew that this level was full of factious cities, made up just for the Grid. Her own Server at least had locations based off of actual real world places, but rendered as being in the far flung future after a great catastrophe, and thus, only shadows of their former splendor. Splendor that was almost arrogantly on display on this Server.

Azure chuckled as they sat down near a door and started moving. His gaze was towards her, but more out of the window behind her as they trundled down the road towards what she guessed was the airport, and his aircraft.

"I used to play on Server 7, but it got… complicated. And I couldn't stand the perpetual and circular grind Server 8 seemingly has descended into, and the constant tension between the factions?" he made a face as if to spit, but instead grunted in frustration; "I have zero tolerance for politics, all I want to do is explore, take on a job, do it, and get paid. Simple, direct, honest. Makes life easier that way I think."

Blake didn't reply, because she had a similar opinion that was growing day by day, yet what she had heard of the other Severs did not inspire her to relocate, although she was highly interested in Server 5 now that she had spent more than a few minutes passing through with the Nexus, but her home was Server 8 and always would be. Besides, she and her fire team had worked hard to get into the Jaeger program, having been banished from the Tower, and disavowed by the Vanguard as part of a mass culling had left them with little choice, their approximate innocence not withstanding…

Shaking her head clear of the unpleasant memories, Belladonna looked back at her inadvertent Good Samaritan, and once more puzzled over him. If he had been on higher Leveled Servers in the past, why was he now here in one of the middle Servers? Was it by choice as he had implied? Or maybe, like her, he had been forced out for some reason? He was clearly skilled, and had ample points and power to use such skills, and that spoke of a higher than average level. That was just how the Grid worked, you started out in the Hub, you picked a server, and then after a brief tutorial, were dumped with trash gear and a few resources into the first level, and then you either made it work, or got dumped back downwards a server at a time until you found a place you could survive in.

Or you fraged over and over until you either gave up and returned to the Hub, or Zeroed Out for good. She could remember the last time she had been at the Hub after being fraged, she had done a total respect of herself and then picked a much harder Server, because she could not stand the thought of being killed by the dammed map for something no one had any right to trip over and then be tossed into the sky at eye numbing speeds, while running from a stupid mutated wild dog she should not have tried to pick a fight with.

"We're here." He said, snapping her out of her reprieve as he stood and walked out of the opening door. Following him out, they walked towards a set of high and wide buildings, tall chain linked fences surrounding long expanses of concrete, a variety of craft lined the back side of the main building, which they bypassed via a side gate. Walking up to another warehouse like building with an arched roof, Azure punched in a code, that opened another door, the darkness inside giving way to light as large fixtures above hummed to life. A small twin engine winged craft stood in the middle of the expansive and tidy, if dusty space.

"Climb in, and buckle up, we'll be in the air shortly." He gestured to the side as he threw a large heavy switch by the large main door, its mechanical groaning drowning out any reply she might have had. Clambering up onto the wing, she pulled on the door and sat herself into the comfortable seat, almost foreign looking controls before her, worn and sturdy looking under her critical gaze.

He joined her shortly afterwards, his fingers deftly flipping switches and turning knobs, brought the two engines to live, the harsh rasp evening out into a not quite pleasing thrum as they moved forward, and onto the tarmac, turned sharply, then lurched forward, the noise and speed increasing until suddenly they were airborne, mechanical sounds filling the cabin until a steady hum was all she could hear. He then handed her a headset, which she put on, and the noise levels dimmed to a much more pleasant level, his voice coming over in a slightly altered tone; "We'll be in Central City after sundown, from there you can link to either the Junction in Liberty City or Los Santos, and from there, the Hub or Server 8." He explained as they climbed ever higher, the ground a dizzying distance below now, Old Dalears slowly moving behind them, open water ahead, the faintest hint of land, and logically, another map little more than a smudge on the horizon.

"I hope I've made my thanks to you clear enough." Belladonna said after nodding out the window, her amber eyes glancing over the gauges, which meant little to her, before looking to his face, seeing his gaze intent out of the front window. "I have no idea how long it would have taken me to find my way to a Junction otherwise."

Blaze smirked and nodded once as he replied; "A lot longer than you would think or like I'm sure, Servers 5 and 6 are two of the most expansive in the whole grid, aside from the upper levels of Server 8 or 9 of course, and they are also some of the most populated outside of Server 2 and the Hub. Plenty of trouble to get into if you're alone or unprepared."

The plane shuddered slightly in the late day turbulence, but it was thankfully mild, and she was not prone to motion sickness. "I can only imagine, given what little I've seen here." She saw a large ship covered in lights down below, moving much slower than they were, but the flashing of colors spoke of something vibrant and she could only watch as they passed it by.

"What was that ship?" she asked when she saw him take note of her interest, the faintest hint of warmth rising up her cheeks at her own ignorance.

"A cruise ship bound for the port in Central City, sometimes people want to take the long way between the maps, have a party and relax. Hundreds of Players at a time will pull their money together and buy one for the trip. Its like a small town almost, or more like a hotel, casino and investment all rolled into one."

A roving party that took you between maps? The concept was rather much out of step from what she was used to, but then this Server was not about constant fights for survival and beating back the darkness and total annihilation at the hands of manic space invaders. This Server seemed more about… Greed? Azure was for all practical reasoning, a mercenary, someone well paid to do a dangerous job that was clearly high risk, and he was good at it, yet he seemed a polite and kind sort. The true mercenaries she had encountered, where far less generous and while she and her friends had become something of hired guns themselves, they were serving a greater purpose if only indirectly. Yet like he had said, the politics between the factions of the Server had become increasingly challenging. But Azure, and all of the Server she had thus far seen, seemed more geared towards acquiring wealth. Resources abounded, and the overriding safety of the map, was juxtaposed against the wonton aggression of the players and NPC's she had observed. With no overriding threat to the players built into the Server, they were free to fight and plot and move against one another at will with only mild consequence, given what he had explained of things so far. Here it seemed, politics were all but non-existent, at least given his total lack of complaining or comparing of any here and the mire of Server 8. What might it take to get Adam and Ilia to come here, even if only to visit and explore? Not much for the latter, but a great deal to convince the former.

Maybe there was something to that?

/*/

_**The Tower, Server 8, Level 1, The Last City, Center of the European Reclaimed Zone**_

"What the hell do you mean "restricted until further notice?!"

Ruby flinched at both the volume and the tone of her sisters flabbergasted voice, and the mild echo of it within the open steel and concrete walls of the Bazaar, then flinched again at the unfazed, displeased yet somehow also amused face of one of the scariest people she had ever met, the Dark Warlock, Vanguard member Ikora Rey.

Rey's dark brown eyes swept from her sister onto herself, then back again, as Yang took a few deep breaths to try and steady herself. It seemed to be working, but…

"I did not stutter Titan, the directive is clear, as are the rules regulations and guidelines put forth by the Vanguard," Her voice was a rich high tenor, almost throaty, but perfectly calm, even, precise, and backed by both an iron will, and more than enough proven power to flatten half a city block if she sneezed wrong; "Directives intended to keep young guardians, like yourself and your sister, safe from unknown threats and unforeseen attacks. She violated no less than five of them going where she did, and doing what she did."

Yang wasn't stupid, hot headed and impulsive maybe, but surely not- "But we completed the mission, and no one got even a leg cramp for it!"

Damnit Yang…

The Elder Warlock turned to face them fully and arched a single perfectly groomed and shaped eyebrow, barely more than a millimeter, and it was enough to send absolute terror and panic through Ruby from her teeth to her toes, the barest of squeaks slipping out before she grabbed her sisters elbow and yanked franticly on her arm, "Yang she's right I went into the dark lands without any intel by myself, I wasn't thinking about it because I wanted the best possible vantage point, I messed up, not you, just let it be!"

Ikora tilted her head gently towards Ruby and the slightest of smiles touched her lips, and her eyes softened from hardened gemstones to something slightly more forgiving, like say spinmetal armor; "Your admission and acknowledgment is noted little Hunter, When Zavala returns, I will impress upon him the need for some leniency… Some, I say, but you are still restricted from Leaving the City until he says otherwise."

"B-but!" the golden locked Titan spluttered as her crimson haired sister & Hunter all but flailed uselessly against her forearm, faintly sounding like someone falling to their death for just a moment.

"Aahhhh-yes mam! But nothing Yang!" Ruby finally found purchase shifting her grip to just under her sisters shoulder as she managed to drag the larger young woman back, if only a step; "Thank you! Walk in the Light! Bye!"

"Walk in the Light young Guardians." Rey said with thinly veiled amusement, her gaze returning to the positively ancient tome in her hand, as they left her in relative peace. "Hm. Cayde… How might young Ruby flourish with your guidance?" he of course did not, could not answer, and that pang of loss once more echoed within her until her lips parted as she took in a breath then scoffed; "Oh what am I saying, you were the worst of us all when it came to wandering off the map."

"Ikora!" a big male voiced boomed from across the bazaar, drawing her eyes closed in preparation.

"Uhm, of course, now of all times." She said quietly before turning to face the well known and signature sound featured in the Crucible, "Lord Shaxx. How might the Vanguard be of service today?"

"They're at it again!" the one horned Titan bellowed, his arms sweeping up in exasperated frustration as he came to a stop next to her.

"They?" Ikora asked for clarification as she felt something tickle up her spine, the book in hand floating swiftly back onto the table behind her, overlooking the City, in spite of her sudden irritation.

"Yes! They! The Jaegers'! They're at it again!" the legendary Titan exclaimed at a volume far too in excess for the small distance between them.

"Jaegers'… Oh, what did they do this time Shaxx?" Rey asked calmly, even knowing that prone as the Titan was to mild exaggeration, he would not leave his station running the Crucible and managing the Redjacks, without some sort of reason worthy of his time, or hers.

"The blasted fools are stirring up the Cabal in the EDZ once more, a messenger from Devrim Kay gave me this," he held out a small data pad, and a short video clip showed four rogue light bearers plowing through a line of Cabal, next to their often raided firebase near Trostland in the heart of the EDZ; "And passed on a report that they have actually managed to close off the far end of the zone and wipe the Red Legion outposts off the map!"

Ikora arched an eyebrow, as she pursued the information on the device then hummed lightly in reply; "Hmm, so what you are saying is they have managed to drive them from the edges and back into their beachhead? This is good, but I hardly see-"

"They also managed to wipe a platoon of Redjacks out in the process, and are apparently preparing a massed attack upon the landing ship itself!" Shaxx bellowed out in utter disbelief and confusion.

"Ah." The Warlock replied, understanding the issue now. Zavala would not be pleased to hear this when he returned, because of the possible retaliation in part, but also because he was in a meeting with the leaders of the Jaegers', one, "Headmaster Ozpin" even now. The talk was meant to secure aid between the two, and cool relations between the Guardians within the Tower under the Vanguard, and the Rogue light bearers that Ozpin was gathering and renaming Jaegers, at his own small fortress he had named "Beacon" in the wild and untamed lands of the North American Dead Zone.

Given the recent expulsion of a number of Guardians from the Tower and Vanguard active duty roster for… extracurricular activities, that had come into conflict with the mission of defending Humanity, tensions had risen between the two factions, and while open conflict was far from common or desirable, the unease of both sides was a distraction that could be ill afforded given the nature of the server.

"Was the loss of Redjacks intentional or mere happenstance?" Ikora asked pointedly, her hands folding behind her back as she regarded the Titan closely.

"I couldn't say one way or the other with any confidence," Shaxx replied before slamming an armored fist into open hand; "But the chaos that was wreaked upon the area speaks for itself! Look there! One of the Crucibles finalists from the Guardian games last year, see the victory mark and signature rifle? Really now Ikora, if you and Zavala had not been so heavy handed in dealing with the Drifter and his associates, Ozpin wouldn't have the numbers to be striking out like this!"

Ikora sighed softly. She couldn't disagree with Shaxx on that point, but as Zavala had said, any sort of compromising with the forces of light and dark could only lead to a moment of weakness for a Guardian, and that could get others killed. But then, Ozpin's Jaegers had done more in the last two years to push back the forces of chaos and darkness than the Guardians have been able to do since the City's Wall had been completed…

"I will pass this onto Zavala as soon as he returns Shaxx," the Warlock replied after the moment's thought; "In the meantime, we have a number of Guardians on rotation for reserve duty you can call upon to help stabilize the area, at least until Ozpin makes his next move."

"And then what?" Shaxx replied in un-shrouded curiosity.

"And then, well I hope Zavala and Ozpin can come to a working agreement on keeping things moving in a… positive, direction."

/*/

_**Sea of Ghosts, Server 2, Level 27, Off the Northern Coast of Skyrim, Tamriel**_

"Ugh, I _hate_ boats."

"It's a _ship_ Jaune."

The Lady Schnee lifted her chin, pointedly looking away from Sir Arc as he heaved over the side once more, groaning in queasy agony as the ship rolled gently along, the coast of Tamireal was big and shimmering on the horizon, a bright and clear, if not cold day offered a stunning view of the ice fields to the west and north of their position, the iconic land bridge that shaped Solitude and it's port growing ever closer.

"It could be a wagon pulled by an ox and I'd still feel sick." The blond headed Knight replied as he wiped at his face with a rag and screwed his eyes shut against the growing glare of the sunrise against the sea ice in the distance.

"Then tell me," Weiss questioned as she finally rounded on him, and settled her stance, her knees and hips, hidden by her robes, shifting under her kept her steady atop the pitching ship deck; "How it is you can ride a horse without issue, if everything else causes you to become sick?"

Jaune, for his part smothered a belch, and then sighed tiredly; "I can ride a horse, because it is a living thing, and I understand it, it gives me clues, and moves when I want it too, wagons, boats-"

"Ship."

"Whichever, uuugghhh…" he held his hands over his stomach, then coughed; "They are not alive, they don't move when I want, and they unnaturally shake my head back and forth."

Weiss frowned slightly as he turned once more, and dry heaved over the railing again, only to have a small cloud of cold sea water spray up and across his face.

"Well it won't matter much longer, look," she extended an elegant slender finger towards the horizon; "Solitude is just ahead, not an hour away now, once we are in port you will be back on solid ground, and we can go and meet Winter."

Jaune sighed with barely restrained relief, then leaned back against the railing, his cheeks still flushed and eyes glassy; "You've been here before?" he asked tiredly, but with open curiosity.

"Once," Weiss replied with a wistful sound and a longing gaze; "I was younger, and a much lower level, my whole family came here to Solitude for some sort of feast at the Bards College, I even got to see the Blue Palace. It was all so exciting, but we didn't stay more than a few days, the weather was turning against us, and my father did not wish to endanger us children due to how violent the storms can get on this level." She looked back over her shoulder at him and tilted her head slightly, the sun catching her platinum locks just so; "Have you never been here before?"

Arc nodded his head slowly; "No, of course I leveled up in Ansal, of Eldervale, level twenty, but my family lived in Cyrodiil for a few years until my grandfather zeroed out, He was based in Skyrim, but served as a soldier in the Legion, so I heard stories from him about the wilds of Tamriel, from the tundra of Skyrim to the sands of Hammerfell, he inspired me to work hard to gain my own levels, and apply to the Academy in Atlas, so I'm up to the task if you're worried."

Weiss shook her head as she replied; "You would not have been paired with me if you were not of a comparable level Jaune, the Atlas Academy system has strict guidelines."

"Right, of course." Jaune replied, looking rather green faced once more, before he turned away, his now empty stomach growling loudly as he leaned on the railing once more.

Weiss sighed softly as a sailor strode past, then paused, glancing between them, then shrugging; "Empire's fallen on hard times since the war, now it's only Cyrodiil and Skyrim left, and last I heard, the Nords were getting tired of the weakness of the Imperials, rumors abound that a rebellion is brewing in Windhelm, Ulfric Stormcloak is the Jarl now, and he's not looked kindly on the Emperor and his taxes, nor the Thalmor running free across the province harassing anyone they think worships Talos still."

Both Jaune and Weiss looked at the sailor as he worked on a bit of rigging, raising the sail and slowing the ship.

"Wait, you mean there might be a civil war going on?" Weiss asked.

The Sailor nodded; "Aye, and with the return of Dragons to the skies, it looks like Skyrim is fit to tear itself apart at long last. Least that's how it was last I was here, for all we know, the war could be over and done by now."

"So wait, you mean the Dragons where gone, but came back?" Jaune asked worriedly.

"Well, alls I can say is there has for certain been one dragon sighted, first in hundreds of years, big as a keep and blacker than night they say, he flies about, silent and swift, almost like he is looking for something, or maybe someone. Never saw it me'self, but there's been talk all across Skyrim, and it's gotten out. Bad omen that."

"So rumors but nothing for sure?" Weiss asked, skeptically.

"Aye m'lady mage," the sailor replied, his face suddenly solemn, "Sailors' like me love our gossip, but something like that? Who would dare spin tails about the end of the server?"

"Wait, what?" Jaune exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Surely you must be joking." Weiss said, now fully doubting the story she was hearing.

"Oh aye, first Tamreil, then the rest, one after another, they say Alduin the world eater, has turned dark, that he refuses to consume but by the bidding of herself."

"Who?"

"The lady of the grid, the chaos that seeks total rampancy, the mother of dark spawn, Salem."

"Salem is just a myth." Weiss scoffed, brushing her hair back; "A tale told by scrubs and failures who cannot function as heroes and must make do with more mundane and boring lives within the Grid, failures who can't own their mistakes and must blame bad coding and some malevolent dark force instead of their own incompetence."

"Call it what you will, m'lady, but if such stories have persisted since the foundations of the grid, surely there must be some truth to them?"

The sailor then went back to work, moving away as Weiss frowned at the horizon, and Jaune once more heaved up nothing over the rail, the cool crisp morning now suddenly chill and less bright somehow…

_**The Winking Skeever, Solitude**_

The Inn and Tavern, was bustling with activity, a Bard sung her lungs out to be heard over the din of conversation, shouting and laughter, flatware and bottles of alcoholic beverages clanked and clattered, the atmosphere was heady, if chaotic, but even so the food was good, and the fire kept the sharp chill of the outside well at bay. More than a few of the other players, and NPCs had eyed Weiss closely, but knowing in advance how many in the level felt about magic users, she paid them no mind. Jaune however was more openly acceptable to the mostly Nord crowd, a Knight was just a fancy warrior, and there had been at least one other in ornate armor at the bar as well, so him might have been invisible by comparison, which suited them both just fine.

"I thought your sister said to meet her here?" Arc asked as he set his now half empty tankard down, his voice just below a shout, the volume of the room suddenly rising as the Bard finished her song and the patrons cheered in thanks.

"She did," Weiss replied as the din returned to a slightly lower level than before, the Bard strutting to the bar for a drink, as conversations erupted around the room; "I can only guess that she had something come up, or that she is late in arriving here herself."

"I hope we won't have to wait long, the exchange rate for the currency is not in our favor here." Arc replied as he forked the last of his grilled fish into his mouth and chewed.

Schnee hummed in reply, knowing that as much gold as they had made on their last adventure, with the war in Skyrim causing the roads to be less than ideally patrolled, bandits of all stripes had flocked to them, robbing anyone and everyone they possibly could. That meant everything not made locally was now very expensive.

A young girl in a well made, but dirty dress suddenly dashed up to their table, a note in hand; "Are you the Lady Weiss and Lord Jaune?" she asked boldly, her eyes drifting over them both, as if looking for something that might answer the question for her might appear.

Jaune glanced at Weiss, who nodded then smiled politely at the girl, undoubtedly an NPC; "Yes we are, is that a message for us?"

"Aye, I was told to give this to you when I found you, and to lead you to someone who must speak with you."

Weiss arched an eyebrow, then dipped into her purse, and extracted a pair of Septims and held them out in her hand; "Very well, give me the note and once we are done with our meal, we'll follow you."

The girl took the coins and passed the note into the Mage's now empty hand; "We cannot wait lady mage, I was instructed to bring you straight away, told that time was short."

Jaune gulped down the last mouthful of his food, then chugged his ale before standing, setting the tankard down; "Well I'm ready, and you Weiss?"

Schnee sighed then stood as well, "Very well, lead on."

The Girl curtsied briefly, then ran out of the door, the Knight and Mage close to her heels.

The child messenger led them to Castle Dour, and up the steps behind the barracks and training yard, all the way to the highest reaches of the walkways, where no soldiers' patrolled, away from the view of most of the citizens, until she paused at a dead end path in the corner, then turned; "Here, wait a moment, and good luck!" she then doubled back and dashed back down the stairs the way they had just come.

"What on earth are we doing up here?" Weiss wondered aloud as she swept the view of the Castle and some of the Residential area closely for a moment.

A shadow against the corner of the wall suddenly moved, and a figure in black, with dark purple trim seemed to materialize, even as Schnee could feel the ebb of magic dissipate suddenly.

Jaune stepped between her and the figure, also a her it seemed, if the shape and size was right, before the dark figure held it's hands up in a peaceful gesture. The two adventurers looked at the figure closely, sizing her up.

She was almost as slender as Weiss herself, but taller, although the fitted and sectioned metal reinforced leather armor did add some bulk, it was still a sleek and fitted design, with a hooded cape, and thick leather face cover that concealed all but the purpled tinged blue of her eyes, and a pale freckled forehead, raven black hair peaking out around her temples. The armor would have weighed much if it had been made of metal, but the soft and almost silent creak of leather told the tale, the only metal for sure dully shone around her gloves and gauntlets, and on the claps of the cape. No weapons were visible, but that hardly meant there were none. A matching leather satchel was partly hidden under the cape, but what stood out was how still the figure was, as well as how silent.

"Who are you?" Jaune asked, every ounce of power courage and he possessed bubbling behind it, his tone guarded and thick with warning.

"A friend." She replied, a faintly accented soprano replied before she pulled her hood back, but kept her face covered, faint scars showed along her left cheek, vanishing under the mask.

"What sort of friend? Where is Winter?" Weiss demanded, no standing beside Jaune, her hand resting casually on the hilt of her rapier, her ice blue eyes narrowed.

"Your Sister sends her apologies, but things have happened very rapidly the last two days, and she has gone on ahead to prepare for Iron— General, Ironwood's response. Your mission however has not changed, but the time table has been accelerated, I am to help you."

"You still have not given us your name," Jaune countered, "and how are we to know you tell the truth?"

Her eyes flashed a violent shade of blue, but she did not move other than to lift her left hand and form a small bundle of light, which she then tossed at the wall, illuminating it and them more brightly than the now noon day sun could. She then held up a piece of paper, allowing the light to shine though, and expose the Schnee family crest.

"Your sister said to tell you, 'Father bought mother a gift of mead.'"

"But she only wants wine." Weiss replied almost instantly, "we can trust her, it's one of Winter and my special passphrases."

Jaune, who had halfway pulled his sword out, slid it back home and nodded once: "Very well. Now who are you?"

The other young woman lowered the parchment, then dispelled the ball of light, before handing the paper off to Weiss and answering; "I am Violet Schwartz, a local ally to Ironwood and others like him, do you need any supplies?"

"Some food and horses, and a chance to off load some of the loot from our last quest, other than that we are as ready as we can be." Weiss answered, folding her arms behind her under her robes.

"No horses, they are a liability." Schwartz replied, then pointed down into the city below; "Go to Bits and Pieces, the local goods store, and get what you need, if you have any high value items you need to sell, go back to the Winking Skeever and speak to the Argoinan, Gullim-El, he can pay for anything you have, but does not sell much in the way of goods, if he refuses to do business with you, tell him I sent you, and if you think he is cheating you, it's because he is, or is trying too." Violet then climbed up onto the wall, looking over the stone street below; "Meet me outside the city gates as soon as you are done, we're taking the carriage to Whiterun."

"But, why?" Weiss asked, as she frowned sourly at the other girl.

"Because, as of high noon two days ago, an unknown player unlocked the master quest for this level, and has set events into motion that will in the end, effect this whole server, possibly causing it to shut down, if things go wrong. We must find them before others do."

With that, Schwartz dropped off the high ledge, and vanished in a flash of magic, melding with the shadows for a moment, then vanishing from sight into the cobblestones below.

* * *

_**A/N: So me trying to adhere to a posting schedule is a joke it seems. Apologies for the late update, and yes I am actually still working on the FO4 story, but it is slow going right now, expect it to update between now and July 4th I think.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Please see A/N at the end of the chapter_

* * *

Remnants of the Grid

"Vanguard's asking questions again."

"Hm."

The chaotic bustle of a ground level Ramen shop near the wall, opposite of the Tower, was as safe a place as any to have this sort of conversation, the Awoken Warlock thought. Now if only his partner could show some sort of appropriate reaction to the subject and its unspoken implications, it would be a perfect moment.

"Zavala's in a poor mood after his meeting with Ozpin, apparently the old man told him he could only blame himself for the explosion in Jaeger numbers."

An eyeless domed metal head tilted slightly towards the golden eyed Warlock, solid, expressionless, more so as the older first Gen Exo, the only known example of his races origins, simply grunted again in his synthesized voice; "Hm."

"Boss… Le," the dark haired, scruffy faced and good humored Titan sitting between them held his hand up imploringly, then sighed before taking another drink of the tangy green juice in his hand, then slamming it down and belching softly and continuing; "I know you like the kids, the newer Guardians are a breath of fresh air, and after the expulsion—"

"They were banished Spaz. Pure and simple. Kicked out for helping the Drifter meddle with things that shouldn't be meddled with. End of story."

It was the most he had spoken yet that day, and it shut down the others before they could even dare to jump in.

"The point is Le," a comically buff Hunter with dirty blond hair at last chimed in; "The Iron Battalion is the only major faction still in favor with the Vanguard, and now people are asking them 'why?' and to be blunt, it's a valid question."

"We do the job at hand, we follow orders." Stated a lavender eyed, lithe human hunter with long raven hair, streaked with silver that did not match her pale youthful features, she eyed the assembled Guardians as the last of the meal was finished, "We keep our noses clean, what possible questions could that warrant?"

"Fox is right." Le stated flatly, then stood, signally the conversation was now over.

"The fact that we literally rebooted Rasputin, and have been allegedly seen aiding Jaegers in the field." The only other Exo at last joined in as he also stood, his sizable frame the only thing that dwarfed his human counterparts in their circle.

"_Yegor!_" Swift hissed, his golden eyes blazing in aggravation.

"They were friends, needed help." Le-85 replied to Yegor-4, his radar guided sight let him see the wavering of the other Exo's eyes as they cast down.

"Da, I know, how well I do old friend, that such are rarer and rarer these days, but it does mean that there will be talking of this, more and more, and you know how rumors and gossip flourish these days."

"Ftth," Fox hissed dismissively as she dropped some glimmer onto the table, then swept her long fingers through her close cropped bangs; "So long as the Vanguard leads, the City will follow, no matter how much they gripe about it."

"Not according to the council's last hearing." Swift said lowly, drawing looks from the other five.

The indigo skinned Warlock shrugged in reply; "The City leadership is clamoring for a new Hunter Vanguard, but as no top tier Hunter is crazy or sane enough to step up, and Bray has removed herself from consideration by returning to Mars, the position remains open, the Crow is missing and Zavala can't keep stalling on that forever. Someone needs to step up, or something is going to give."

"But what exactly?" Bennington asked, the blond haired Titan asked his companions as they navigated the crowded streets back towards a transit station to return to the Tower.

"The factions are actually in talks, even as we speak," Swift Gilbard stated flatly, his long snow white hair trailing behind him; "they are discussing throwing past differences aside and backing the Council to pressure the Vanguard into overseeing the fortification of the Farm, and the Nomads, Outcasts and most of the Clans are in favor. They call it the 'New City' project, and frankly, they are likely to succeed."

This caused the six to stop and look around, the reason why plain enough: the Last City was now bursting at the seams, scars from the Red War had all but fully healed, the Traveler was awake, the Darkness was held at bay back at the rings of Saturn, pushed back and held within a cage of its own dark power, and with the last of the Cabal's Red Legion now crippled on Earth, thanks in large part to the Jaegers' of all things, a time of expansion was just waiting for the chance to happen.

"Moment that happens, someone's gonna take a shot at the City, Vex, Fallen, Cabal, doesn't matter who, and we'll all be called up to fight them back again." Le-85 responded to the question that was about to tumble from Spakolski's lips, the scruffy faced Titan closing his mouth with an audible click.

"That is, according to my source," Swift replied, "exactly what Ozpin told Zavala, and that a formal alliance was the only way to ensure that when and not if it happens, we can blunt it."

"How?" Fox intoned as the two fireteams entered a rarely empty tramcar.

"Simple," Swift replied, "the Jaegers' take over the Farm and fortify it, while the Guardian's stand ready to counter attack."

"Sounds like you actually agree with that old mystic." Bennington responded incredulously as the car lurched forward, each of them bracing slightly as it rapidly accelerated down the magnetic track.

"Big," Yegor said, sounding almost human with how tired it came across; "It makes sense sure, but given the fact that nearly half of the Jaegers' numbers are disgraced Guardians, I can not foresee the Vanguard agreeing to such a thing, even if everyone else want's it."

"_Priority incoming message, it's from Ana Bray, Iron Lords Bravo signal."_

Each of the six of them heard it in their heads via their Ghosts, the esteemed maverick Hunter and scientist sounding excited.

"Go for Iron Wolf one, split broadcast to all Iron Lords." Le-85 replied softly, but firmly.

"_Le, I've found something, a big something, a Vanguard something, Spider has managed to collect the last fragment of Sundance's shell, and a vital piece of the Ghost core!"_

"What's the catch?" Fox snapped as she looked to the elderly Exo in bewilderment.

"_Another Hive Queen has spawned a brood, this time right on his doorstep, looks like she's trying to push him out of the Tangled Shore, take her and her brood down, and the pieces are ours."_

"I think she meant, what is your catch in this deal?" Swift sighed as he summoned his Ghost and started putting on Armor.

"_You know that fragment of the Traveler in the EDZ? I need a piece of it. A big piece of it."_

"When you say, 'big' Ana, just how big are you implying?" Swift asked tentatively as weapons started appearing on his person.

"_More or less something about the size of a Sparrow, more rather than less."_

"Ana, have I ever told you that you're likely stark raving insane?" Fox retorted as she tugged her gauntlets on.

"_Not since we stopped the Almighty from turning the City into the single largest crater in the system."_

"Ana, what is this all about?" Le asked at long last.

"_We're getting Cayde back."_

/*/

_**Server Zero, Level Zero, Nexus Primary Junction, Core City, The Hub, Extra-Server Arrivals**_

"Robyn! Hi!" Impacting upon the shorter girl like a bag full of cheese wheels, Nora threw her strong and powerful arms around the slighter and slimmer figure and spun her around at least three times before putting her down and holding her out at arms length, her teal eyed smile like a ray of sunlight, the smaller females smile equal parts joy and discomfort at the almost violent greeting.

"Nora! Huff, how are you? New haircut? I like it!" Birdsong gently extracted herself as Nora primped her hair slightly with one hand and laughed; "Oh nothing big, just a little off the sides is all, how are you doing?"

Robyn smiled at her friend and spread her arms wide; "Still busy being me is all, hello Ren!" she waved to the quiet Ninja as he bowed slightly at the waist, hands pressed together, a small smile on his lips: "Robyn, it is as always good to see you, we were grateful to get your message."

The barefoot, leather vested and rough spun skirt wearing adventurer bowed slightly at that; "And now to the point of calling you here my friends," she gestured towards the exit, and started walking; "I came across some information just a few days ago, and it led me to someone who claims to have been friends with the Valkyrie family, back before the Grid, but the catch is, to get to him we need an artifact to gain access to a hidden area, in Level Twenty."

"Server One?" Nora asked, confusion on her face.

"That's what my source tells me," Birdsong replied; "apparently there is a rare Loot drop in this place, and the person in question refuses to barter without it."

"Hmm," Ren replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "such loot is more prevalent in the lower Servers, but harder to get at due to how remote and abandoned such levels tend to be, and a hidden area promises to be even more dangerous."

"Hazardous more like," Robyn countered, "fewer enemies, but the level itself will be set up like a puzzle, the path not always clear, and pitfalls aplenty."

"Awwe, but I hate puzzles!" Valkyrie groaned as she stepped out into a concourse, rows of vendors, and crowds of players filling the thorofare.

With the Nexus Hub at its center, a dozen rows of paths radiated out like the spokes of a wheel, each a thorofare that led straight away to the massive walls of Central, along which stood two dozen Guild Halls, ringing the inside of the walls. Signs, banners, lights of all sorts lined the streets and the walls in equal measure, proclaiming vendors, player and NPC run alike, as well as recruitment drives for each of the Guild's, from the singular focused to the diversely motivated, contracts, bounties, challenges, dares, all were posted on boards at each major intersection of the spiders web of streets, from the low built center, to the towering buildings at the edge.

"Well then lucky for you, I have a means for us to cheat just a little." Birdsong smiled as she held up a small paper lantern and explained; "This is a puzzle guide, it allows us to retrace the path taken by someone who has solved a hidden area mystery, but to activate it, we need the Relic that reveals the hidden area itself, once we do that, this will activate, but it's only good once every week. And before you ask, no it was _not_ cheap."

Nora and Ren glanced to one another, before Ren nodded once and replied; "We have a decent pay out from our last quest, and some loot we intend to cash out here in the Hub, How much do we owe you?"

Robyn gave a half smile as she stowed the item back in her inventory and replied; "Quarter million credits buys you a half interest in it, but since you're both such good friends and loyal customers, and I know you're both good for it, I'll take a hundred thousand up front, and the rest in whatever loot we find along the way, sound fair?"

Nora blinked widely then stopped rubbing her arms slowly; "I know you wouldn't try and rip us off Robyn, but that's a lot…"

"We have a deal." Ren said flatly, as he extracted a pouch from his own inventory and held it out; "Forty thousand, plus some assorted gems and other items worth another ten at least. And I know you're underselling that guide."

Nora quickly took out the bulk of her credits, and offered it up as well, which Robyn took and stored into her own inventory with a nod.

"Just a little, I know how important it is to you both, but getting that guide tapped me of most of my liquid resources and a few favors," she held a hand up when Nora went to protest; "it's fine guys, really, you've helped me out of a jam before, and besides my personal interests and needs are all seen too at this point, so it's not like I need the coin for much else right now."

"We are in your debt Robyn." Li said with a small bow as Nora then shook the other girls hand firmly.

"No, we're square for now," Birdsong said with a sardonic smile; "Wait until after we get that artifact to see who owes who what."

/*/

_**Server Eight, Level 5, White Fang Gang Outpost Number 2, somewhere West of the ruins of New York**_

"Blake!"

Adam's shout was equal parts greeting, alarm and accusation, and it only made the small headache in the back of Ilia's head move to someplace between her eyes, even as relief swelled in her chest at the familiar and customary reply; "Adam! Ilia!"

Standing from the small cooking stove she had been working on, the Warlock smiled as the Hunter stepped up and embraced the Titan, then turned to smile and touch hands with her.

"Glad to see you back Blake, what the hell happened?"

Blake shucked the bag she was carrying and held her hands out as her ghost transmatted another matching bag into her arms; "Nexus malfunction, I got dumped out at a defunct junction on Server Six, had to make my way to Central City and the Nexus Junction there to get back."

"Server Six? How'd you get out of there so fast?" Adam asked in bewilderment as he took up the two bags in one arm and hefted them to their main cache to distribute the last of the needed supplies and store the rest.

"Server Six is almost as big as Eight, and it's far more hazardous, nearly twice more PvP action than practically any other Server except Seven." Ilia stated with concern.

Blake smiled and waved her hand as she took a bite of a small food packet, then swallowed before explaining; "I lucked out, found some old signal flare, and a friendly player found me, got me to Central City and the Nexus Hub. Of course I had to help him fight off a gang of NPC's and players looking to steal a package from him."

"Who would do that? And further more why would he?" Adam asked as he started checking his weapons in preparation to leave.

"He's a courier of sorts, goes by the name of Azure Blaze, he's an independent, and whatever he was delivering was valuable. I think it was a fair trade, I helped him get his package delivered, and he got me to Central. Even made some extra currency from helping." She then had her ghost transfer over equal shares of it to her fire team as proof.

Ilia hummed and nodded, "Well you're here now, and we're late, Qrow called us this morning asking where we were, and I had to explain to him, again, that you hadn't returned with our supplies yet. Now if you're good to go, we need to get back to the Moon quick as we can."

"Vanguard's not going to like that." Belladonna said as she pulled her best armor out and put it on, then loaded her weapons.

"Only if they find out we've been there." Ilia said slyly; "Eris Morn is back at the Tower but for how long who can say, meantime we have information to salvage from an old Golden Era base while the Guardians are busy smashing that Hive fortress and whatever new monsters they are cooking up in it."

"Well our window is now much smaller than it was before, we'll need to be fast." Adam said as he summoned their small but stealthy jump ship.

"You say that like we didn't hold the speed run record for clearing Tranquility Landing when we were still Guardians." Ilia said as she summoned her helmet and put it on.

"Record still stands last I heard." Blake said as she put her Ghost away and started walking towards the jump ship.

"The Iron Battalion broke it just three days ago, according to my source in the Tower." Taurus groused as he holstered a pulse rifle on his back.

"Well they run six deep, we're just three. Lets take it back."

/*/

_**Server Six, Level 4, Downtown San Andreas, Del Perro, Maze Bank Building, Omega Inc. Corporate Offices**_

"… Seeking reparations for the cost in lost or damaged hardware, lost funds for NPC contractors and the revival costs for multiple players' fraged during the exchange, coming to the sub total of one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with added fees for legal consul and processing of course, it will be closer to two-hundred and fifty grand total."

It didn't matter if it was an NPC or a player, there was a certain… aura, to be polite, that all lawyers, and it was oppressive, slimy, smelt of spoiled meat and was cold and prickly. It also seemed to almost audibly scream to be punched in the throat, shot in the genitals and set on fire, and not necessarily in that exact order.

Lifting the tumbler of whiskey to his lips, he tilted his head slightly then shrugged; "No." a long sip followed, the chink of ice cubes showed that he was dragging out the fullness of the drink longer than needed, all to prove a point.

"Mister Blaze, I must point out that per the rules my employers are fully justified in making their claims, you abdicating only hastens the claims process and brings this matter to a quick closure for both sides, and reduces possibly long term costs to—"

The tumbler crashed to the meeting table, the rich, lacquered wood surface scuffing slightly, the glass cracking under the force of the gesture, as Azure Blaze locked his eyes onto the now silent legal messenger, his offhand still holding the damaged glass as his dominant hand withdrew a large and ornate revolver and placed it on the table top with only slightly less force as he hummed lowly in displeasure.

"Let me, articulate this in detail then, no, hell no, fuck no, not now, not ever, it was all in self defense, and per my contract with my employer, any damages you're client might have incurred during any interdiction attempt should be taken up with them, and not me. Ignoring the fact that we all know that Mors Mutual has already covered the replacement and the deductable was already charged to my account long before this meeting, which is as I noted at the start, pointless."

The lawyer shifted in uncomfortable silence, eyes still on the gun on the table top as the faint music of the lobby filled the space in conjunction with the sounds of another police chase outside in the streets below.

Another long pause hung heavy in the room before Blaze gestured with his empty hand, indicated permission to speak, causing the lawyer to cough before replying: "Then why, may I ask did you agree to the meeting in the first place?"

Azure smiled faintly before leaning back in his padded chair, drawing both hands together in front of his chest, where he made a show of cracking his knuckles before speaking with dead set finality, "To prove a point, and to ensure that a message is passed back." He withdrew an envelope from his suit jacket, and slid it across the long table to the lawyer, who picked it up, then frowned.

"It's coded, so until Cody or Takana open it no one else can, but the jist of it is this: Courier's, all courier's, are now off limits across the Server, and namely and most vehemently on Levels Three, Four and Five, I'm ready to devote the full weight of my organization, and every alliance and favor I have against anyone who refuses to accept this, and they know who I'm friends with, and what I can personally do to them, never mind my whole organization. Tell your boss' that Red Band is now on notice. Tell 'em Azure Blaze said as much."

"I… see. Very well then, I will not take up any more of your time." The lawyer stood up and tucked the letter into his bag before nodding and leaving the room.

"Damn homie, you layin that shit on kinda thick don't chu' think?" a youthful, dark-skinned male in a smart black suit sauntered into the room from the office space on the other side of the darkened glass door, a drink in each hand, one instantly offered to Blaze as he stood and re-holstered his gun.

"Franklin, you know how thin my ranks are right now, and all of the favors and business deals in the Server don't mean shit if anyone thinks I might back down for any reason."

"Heh, yeah I also know I owe you most of your favors, and I'm just one guy with kinda deep pockets and an addiction to things that run fast on gasoline."

"Join the club Frank, I still haven't gotten behind the wheel of my new Coquette D10, and I dropped a cool two mill on it and every upgrade in the catalogue, but it's been sitting in my storage here for almost two whole months."

"Shit man, you been that busy?" Clinton asked as he swirled his drink a bit, mixing the ice with the fine blended malt whiskey.

Blaze barked out a laugh into his own drink, which he downed in a single big swallow before answering; "Been that broke, so I'm running every big legal contract that comes in, while I got the few crew members I have left doing everything else."

"A lot of chump change can add up fast if you can run them all."

"Don't have the manpower to do that, as you just pointed out, and I still have to pay people for that grunt work either way. And the big jobs keep getting griefed by Red Band and upstarts with something to prove."

"Cost of doin business I guess." Franklin shrugged as he lit a smoke.

"Or in most cases not." Azure took an offered smoke and lit it, clapping his lighter closed with a slight flourish; "I thought you retired from all this shit?" Blaze asked as he breathed out a chest full of smoke.

"Yeah, me too, but Red Band has been fucking with all the street races in San An, and Central as well. It's been cutting into my revenue something awful."

Azure laughed around his smoke as he walked through the door and over to the small bar by his desk, and poured himself another drink, "Franklin, ain't no one ever made money racing cars, either on the Grid or before, not consistently and not long term. You know the old saying, speed costs, and to buy enough to win 'em all, costs more than you could ever get even if you did, and no one wins them all."

Franklin laughed right back; "Shiiiit, never stopped me from tryin, or you for that matter, least before you started running jobs again."

Azure shook his head once more as he sipped at his drink, then took another long pull from his smoke, his eyes looking distantly out of the large windows overlooking the massive luxury apartment building across the street, and the coast beyond; "The issue I face is that since my crew broke up, I find myself trying to run no less than four businesses and a nightclub all by myself, and as such while they are all staying afloat, not any one of them is excelling enough to make me any real money."

"Man, you never did tell me what when down between you guys, I mean time was you four were set to be one of the pillars of the level, hell the whole Server even." He spread his arms wide as he looked to his friend inquisitively, "So what happened?"

Blaze downed the last of his drink, then set the tumbler aside, before he moved to his desk and sat down, leaning back in the chair and puffing on the last of his smoke; "I got too ambitious, and focused on the next big score, ruined it for the others, left them in the lurch one too many times, so they cashed out, sold everything they didn't want or need, dumped their shares of the businesses on me, and left for other Servers." He inhaled the last of his cigarette then stubbed the remains of it into a glass ashtray before folding his hands in his lap, "Can't say that I blame them, it's what I would have done in their place."

"Damn. You still talking to them at all? I know you and Vi were getting kinda heavy there before they left."

"Ehh, we message every now and again, honestly I still keep in touch with Leo mostly, and I pulled something high end for Robin a week ago, but I owed her for a tip she gave me right after they left. And no, it was not cheap, cross Server currency rates being what they are."

Franklin nodded, then inclined his head; "But not Violet?"

Azure shrugged; "Last we communicated, she asked me to check up on her old place in El Burro Heights."

"When was that?"

"Month ago I think, but busy as I've been it could have been last week or a year ago."

"Hmm," Clinton hummed before downing the last of his drink, then setting the tumbler down and pointing at Blaze chastisingly; "Take it from me man, don't let things go cold or unsaid or you'll regret it, 'aight?" He nodded to the other males nonverbal acknowledgement, then signed off; "I gotta bounce man, Hao has a new car he wants me to see before he pimps it out for the SA street special this weekend. Peace out homes."

"Peace out brother, win it for me 'kay?"

"We'll see!"

* * *

A/N: so the TLDR for this is as as follows: Divorces suck, quarentines suck, pets dying suck, uppity vindictive property managers suck, moving to an adjacent town is suck, broken legs are suck, old slowly dying laptops are suck, and I am also suck. Sucked dry of all creative joy, yet I have resolved to write this, no matter how long it takes.

Also, update for my FO:4 story is not yet done, had to totally start from scratch when a power outage knocked my computer and the original file was corrupted beyond all salvageable means. I'm maybe half way done with the chapter as a whole right now.

And happy bday to me as well.


End file.
